AIMA

12 August 2011

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global hedge fund association, has responded to the temporary short selling bans introduced by France, Italy, Belgium and Spain.

AIMA CEO Andrew Baker said: “We do not think these bans will help the current market situation. Past experience has shown that bans on short selling do not prevent market falls and indeed can exacerbate volatility. Independent academic research also supports this conclusion.

“Short-selling is a legitimate market practice which helps capital markets function effectively. It was only last year that the Committee of European Securities Regulators, the predecessor to ESMA, recognised in an official report that ‘legitimate short selling plays an important role in financial markets. It contributes to efficient price discovery, increases market liquidity, facilitates hedging and other risk management activities and can possibly help mitigate market bubbles’.

AIMA also supported a statement by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on market abuse which emphasised that market abuse is prohibited. Andrew Baker added, “Of course market abuse is illegal and has always been condemned by our industry. If there is any proof of market abuse having taken place then the authorities should take appropriate action against the perpetrators. If there is any suggestion of market abuse, however, then it may be appropriate to take more targeted action rather than impose blanket bans of this sort.”

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For media enquiries, please contact Christen Thomson, AIMA’s Director of Communications. Tel: +44 (0)20 7822 8380; Email: cthomson@aima.org

About AIMA

As the global hedge fund association, the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) has over 1,250 corporate members (with over 5,500 individual contacts) worldwide, based in over 40 countries.

Members include hedge fund managers, fund of hedge funds managers, prime brokers, legal and accounting firms, investors, fund administrators and independent fund directors. 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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