Funds Hub
Money managers under the microscope
Myners’ let-off for hedge fund pay
There’s been plenty of confusion over who exactly will be hit by the ‘supertax’ on banker bonuses.
Myners spends a lot of time reading blogs. REUTERS/Paul Hackett.
The wording of the Treasury’s clampdown last week suggested some hedge funds and traditional asset managers could be caught — PwC’s John Terry told me that of the 20 hedge funds he had spoken to, around half may have been caught in the net.
However, hedge funds are to fall outside the supertax, confirming a rumour doing the rounds among hedge fund executives.
Speaking at Reuters’ London offices this morning, City minister Paul Myners clarified that the tax would be focused on “the activities of banking”.
Regulated are the cheesemakers
Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, seen by many as the bane of the UK’s hedge funds industry for his input into the highly controversial EU directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers, no doubt expected a hostile reception today at the Guildhall when he appeared at a debate hosted by Open Europe on the directive.
Whilst widely welcomed for his bravery in appearing, Rasmussen nevertheless came in for heavy criticism from City Minister Paul Myners, fellow panellists and an audience full of hedge fund and private equity representatives, making what was probably an uncomfortable lunchtime for the president of the EU assembly’s socialist bloc.
