The spotlight swings

The hedge fund industry has come under severe pressure for increased disclosure, with new SEC rules on the registration of hedge fund advisers to be implemented this month. Now, the private equity market is starting to attract the interest of supervisors. Laurence Neville reports

Over the past year, the hedge fund sector has been quick to heap opprobrium on plans by supervisors in the US, the UK and elsewhere to regulate their market. Less noticed, however, is that some regulators now appear to be setting their sights on the private equity market. While any prospect of greater regulation in private equity is some way off, industry bodies have been quick to try to pre-empt any change to its essentially unregulated status.

The UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA)