Regulator, consumer group spar over hedge fund rules

Johannesburg

DEPENDING on where you stand, hedge funds either expose investors to unnecessarily high risks and costs or they give people the opportunity to diversify and profit from volatility.

That's the basis of a tussle in Canada, where the leading investment-industry watchdog opposes rules that would allow man-in-the-street investors to move into hedge funds and other alternative products such as commodities and derivatives, perhaps as soon as next year. Financial institutions say retail participation is a no-brainer.