Hedgefonder: risker, fördelar och reglering
(2007)Department of Law
- Abstract
- In recent years hedge funds have played an increasingly important role on the global financial markets. After have been a type of fund which historically only has been open to institutional investors and wealthy individuals, the funds have in the past years started to open up for the general public. Despite the fact that hedge funds are subject to enormous media coverage, the Swedish public tends to be ignorant in regard to the hedge funds' true nature. A possible explanation to this is probably that hedge funds are a relatively new phenomena on the Swedish market. During the past years the hedge fund industry has continued to show remarkable growth in assets under management and in the number and type of institutions that are investing in... (More)
- In recent years hedge funds have played an increasingly important role on the global financial markets. After have been a type of fund which historically only has been open to institutional investors and wealthy individuals, the funds have in the past years started to open up for the general public. Despite the fact that hedge funds are subject to enormous media coverage, the Swedish public tends to be ignorant in regard to the hedge funds' true nature. A possible explanation to this is probably that hedge funds are a relatively new phenomena on the Swedish market. During the past years the hedge fund industry has continued to show remarkable growth in assets under management and in the number and type of institutions that are investing in hedge funds. The number of hedge funds reached over 9,000 in 2006, and is increasing every year. In the same year assets under management totalled to approximately $1,500bn. Despite these positive numbers, or perhaps because of these numbers, concerns are raised regarding the negative effects hedge funds might have on the financial markets. After the near collapse of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in 1998, the hedge funds have been subject to heavy critique, mainly because of the concern that the collapse of a larger hedge fund has the potential to trigger systemic crisis. In most jurisdictions hedge funds are relatively unregulated, in the sense that they use certain loopholes, or exceptions, in order to be able to employ the various investment strategies that characterises the funds. The debate on whether or not to further regulate the hedge funds is vigorous. While the hedge fund advocates claim that the funds are important for the stability and the liquidity of the market and thus should not be regulated, the opponents assert that hedge funds create systemic risks and thus should be subject to rigorous regulation. The main objectives of this thesis is to provide the reader with an introduction to the historical development of the hedge fund industry, an overview of the most common investment strategies employed by the funds and an insight in the risks contra the benefits of the hedge funds. Furthermore, the regulatory environment of Swedish hedge funds will be explained and compared to the regulatory approaches in the UK and US. Having explained the risks and benefits, and the regulatory environment, the author will in the conclusion argue that the benefits of having the hedge funds operating in the market is exceeding the potential risks, why hedge funds should not be further regulated. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1560044
- author
- Mahir, Harem
- supervisor
- organization
- year
- 2007
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- Associationsrätt, Bankrätt
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 1560044
- date added to LUP
- 2010-03-08 15:55:24
- date last changed
- 2010-03-08 15:55:24
@misc{1560044,
abstract = {{In recent years hedge funds have played an increasingly important role on the global financial markets. After have been a type of fund which historically only has been open to institutional investors and wealthy individuals, the funds have in the past years started to open up for the general public. Despite the fact that hedge funds are subject to enormous media coverage, the Swedish public tends to be ignorant in regard to the hedge funds' true nature. A possible explanation to this is probably that hedge funds are a relatively new phenomena on the Swedish market. During the past years the hedge fund industry has continued to show remarkable growth in assets under management and in the number and type of institutions that are investing in hedge funds. The number of hedge funds reached over 9,000 in 2006, and is increasing every year. In the same year assets under management totalled to approximately $1,500bn. Despite these positive numbers, or perhaps because of these numbers, concerns are raised regarding the negative effects hedge funds might have on the financial markets. After the near collapse of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management in 1998, the hedge funds have been subject to heavy critique, mainly because of the concern that the collapse of a larger hedge fund has the potential to trigger systemic crisis. In most jurisdictions hedge funds are relatively unregulated, in the sense that they use certain loopholes, or exceptions, in order to be able to employ the various investment strategies that characterises the funds. The debate on whether or not to further regulate the hedge funds is vigorous. While the hedge fund advocates claim that the funds are important for the stability and the liquidity of the market and thus should not be regulated, the opponents assert that hedge funds create systemic risks and thus should be subject to rigorous regulation. The main objectives of this thesis is to provide the reader with an introduction to the historical development of the hedge fund industry, an overview of the most common investment strategies employed by the funds and an insight in the risks contra the benefits of the hedge funds. Furthermore, the regulatory environment of Swedish hedge funds will be explained and compared to the regulatory approaches in the UK and US. Having explained the risks and benefits, and the regulatory environment, the author will in the conclusion argue that the benefits of having the hedge funds operating in the market is exceeding the potential risks, why hedge funds should not be further regulated.}},
author = {{Mahir, Harem}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Hedgefonder: risker, fördelar och reglering}},
year = {{2007}},
}