AIMA

26 May 2009

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) – the global hedge fund industry association – has welcomed the lifting of the Australian short selling ban.

Andrew Baker, AIMA CEO, said, “This is the last of the major bans on short selling to have been lifted and we are delighted that Australia has followed other leading economies in this respect. As the global hedge fund trade body AIMA has been at the forefront of campaigning against these bans - all the research done on them, including quite independent studies, showed that they did not achieve their goals, and in fact often actually worsened matters.

The lifting of this ban means there is now broad international consensus that short selling is an absolutely legitimate market practice. It creates liquidity in capital markets, assists price discovery, and is an invaluable tool in terms of risk management.”

AIMA Australia’s Chairman Kim Ivey added, “This is a clear confirmation that the ban did not need to be in place for eight months and it warranted an immediate removal. Its removal now places Australia on par with other sophisticated markets. It also removes a major deterrent for investment in talented Australian hedge fund managers who transact on the ASX.”

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For media enquiries, please contact Christen Thomson, AIMA Director of Communications, on +44 (0)2078228380; email – cthomson@aima.org

Editors’ Notes:

About AIMA
As the only truly representative global hedge fund association, AIMA, the Alternative Investment Management Association, has more than 1,100 corporate members worldwide, based in 40 countries.

Members include leading hedge fund managers, fund of hedge funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms and fund administrators. They all benefit from AIMA’s active influence in policy development, its leadership in industry initiatives, including education and sound practice manuals and its excellent reputation with regulators worldwide.

AIMA is a dynamic organisation that reflects its members’ interests and provides them with a vibrant global network. AIMA is committed to developing industry skills and education standards and is a co-founder of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation (CAIA) – the industry’s first and only specialised educational standard for alternative investment specialists. For further information, please visit AIMA’s website, www.aima.org.
 

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