Eight out of 10 hedge funds already registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission are likely to remain that way, according to a survey by Ernst & Young. The respondents – 26% of which were funds of hedge funds – said their main reason for sticking with the SEC was “to satisfy preference of current and prospective investors.” Of the 127 firms surveyed, 86% were SEC registrants, 35% since the rule was introduced earlier this year. Another 28% said they would not delist, just in case mandatory registration pops up again through either a new SEC rule or laws enacted by Congress. “There’s a lot of uncertainty out there,” E&Y partner Alan Fish told Dow Jones Newswires, “so some are saying, ‘This is something we may have to do down the road anyway,’” looking at the associated costs as the price of doing business. Meanwhile, no need to hold one’s breath for Congress to enact anything soon. A bill passed in the House of Representatives, H.R. 5712, which would give securities regulators the power to require hedge funds to register, has died in committee, as has H.R. 6079, which would have instructed the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets to study the hedge fund industry, Investment News reports. Another measure that would have revamped the SEC’s office of compliance, inspections and examinations has met a similar fate.
