Osborne expected to back down in face of pending EU legislation which will harm City

[-:Undertaker:-]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...-the-City.html

Michel Barnier, the European internal markets commissioner, on Monday warned of a crackdown on the derivatives market just hours before officials met to thrash out the terms of new hedge fund and private equity legislation. The markets commissioner said he would deal "very severely" with credit default swaps in legislation planned for October. "These people don't like to come out in the light of day. We are going to flood them with light," he said, highlighting the need for more transparency. The warning came as a European Parliament committee prepared to vote on Monday night on a version of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. That came ahead of a meeting of European Finance Ministers on Tuesday where they will vote on their own version. The two sides will then work in 'trilogue' to agree final legislation.

Critics believe both versions will harm the City, curtail investment opportunities, and lead to an exodus of hedge funds and private equity firms from the UK. The MEP committee was expected to approve a proposal to force non-EU hedge funds to agree to transparency standards in exchange for a so-called passport to market to European investors. Mr Barnier backed that proposal, calling for "equal treatment". However, his calls were given short shrift by market insiders who slammed the passporting system. "How is a US fund going to prove that it meets the requirements?" one source said. "The SEC [US market regulator] is going to say it's not our job to do that."

Finance ministers are expected to vote through rules requiring funds to register separately in each EU country, a proposal which has also come in for heavy criticism.George Osborne, Britain's new Chancellor, opposes the directive but is expected to back down in the face of overwhelming support from other EU countries.

I believe that hedge funds provide £5 billion in tax a year for the United Kingdom which has allowed our City to become a world player much to the annoyance of those on the continents who prefer tight government control yet still ended up in a mess just as bad as the one we landed in which afterall was a vital part of capitalism and its ongoing cycle. Now the European Union wants to harm our City which French officals have said in the past that they want Paris to overtake London in financial matters and this is how they are engineering it - through the gargantuan landslide of EU red tape and directives.

The question you need to ask yourself is, who really runs this country?

We now have a Chancellor who cannot even (or isnt prepared to) stand up for the economical and financial interests of the United Kingdom despite it being his job to do so, so when Cameron and co promised the EU would take no more powers from the elected Westminister parliament & British government they knew it ment very little because since the Lisbon Treaty was passed we are pretty much powerless. I have also read that 80% of hedge fund firms and equity firms are actually based in the UK so it will effect us big time.

Thoughts, should the EU have power to overrule the British Chancellor on financial matters regarding the City?

[MattFr]

What. Why would Osborne back down to something that may harm the city when most of the government securities are underwritten by the city? Argh, the EU is crazy.

[alexxxxx]

well all governments believe its fair to say that the banks should be more tightly regulated - even our one, so if we did it in conjunction with the EU, no banking centre will be at an advantage regulation wise than another. It's the competition for business which drives down the regulation. Although the city produces huge amounts of wealth for the UK, it also puts us at a very high risk when gambles go wrong (as seen over the last couple of years).

[-:Undertaker:-]

well all governments believe its fair to say that the banks should be more tightly regulated - even our one, so if we did it in conjunction with the EU, no banking centre will be at an advantage regulation wise than another. It's the competition for business which drives down the regulation. Although the city produces huge amounts of wealth for the UK, it also puts us at a very high risk when gambles go wrong (as seen over the last couple of years).

Why on earth would you wish to eliminate our advantages in our biggest and most profitable industry?

[alexxxxx]

Why on earth would you wish to eliminate our advantages in our biggest and most profitable industry?

well i've read another source on this and apparently there are actually things which might improve the effectiveness of hedgefunds as they can deal more freely across EU borders.

this regulation wouldn't be required if the banks were split up into smaller institutions. the constant mergers have made massive banking empires which means that they hold in reserve so many assets that they become too large to fail.