Will The World's Hedge Funds Move Off-Shore?

What will hedge funds do if large governments start to regulate their activities, tax them at higher rates, and make them disclose their holdings? Places like New York City, Greenwich, and London may find that the financial firms have “left the building.”

According to The Telegraph, funds based in London are already threatening to leave. Several of the largest private firms told the paper, “We don’t have to be in London.”

Since hedge funds operate with relatively few people and can get the data that they need to trade over the internet, they could set up almost anywhere in the world.

The plans for large countries like the US and UK to have more control over private capital could backfire and backfire soon.

Douglas A. McIntyre