On December 2, 2004, the Securities and Exchange Commission promulgated new rules requiring many private fund managers to register as investment advisers by February 1, 2006. These rules reverse decades-old SEC policy and are a dramatic change for the industry.
SEC chairman William Donaldson has said that requiring registration “will afford us greater insight into the activities of hedge fund advisers at a time when hedge funds are growing dramatically in size and influence in the securities markets.”