Venture capitalists: Funds regulation will 'destroy' innovation http://www.euractiv.com/en/financial-services/venture-capitalists-funds-regulation-will-destroy-innovation-news-343805

Background/The European Commission has proposed a new set of rules for hedge funds and private equity firms requiring mandatory registration and disclosure of their activities to regulators, while at the same time easing their access to European markets in the long term.The main regulatory component of the proposed legislation is an obligation for EU-based managers of so-called 'alternative investment funds' to register and disclose their activities, in order to improve supervision and avoid systemic risks.

The obligations are not applied to the funds themselves, but only to their managers, who are considered responsible for key decisions.However, critics said that the exemption of funds from the proposed new regulation would leave hedge funds and private equity free to develop their investment policies, despite the fact that their risk-prone attitudes were strongly criticised during the financial crisis.