Alternative Investment Industry In Favour Of Being Externally Regulated

A poll of nearly 100 leading alternative investments industry professionals conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers UK found that almost three-quarters were in favour of more formal regulation of their industry.

The poll, conducted by PwC at one of its regular alternative investment seminars, found that of those in favour of tighter regulation, almost half (42%) felt that the industry should be fully externally regulated, and 31% would prefer to see the industry self governed. Only 27% believe it should remain the same.

Pars Purewal, PwC alternative investments leader, commented that:

“This points to a significant shift in sentiment from what we have heard historically in the market. For the first time a greater proportion of the industry would prefer to be externally regulated than self-governed."

The poll also revealed that almost half of attendees (47%) would like the valuation process to be assessed independently, and that the end valuation should be validated by a third party.

When asked whether investors are currently making greater demands in relation to the provision of information, 73% of voters noted it was increasing, and 93% considered transparency, risk management and governance as important to investors.

Purewal added:

“It is not surprising that, in these turbulent times, investors are demanding more from the product providers. Investors want to know more about risk, valuation and generally they want more transparency. This is very consistent with the Global Alternatives Survey we released earlier this year. We expect investors to want more information in future and this poll reinforces this point.”

Source: LawAndTax-News.com

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