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G20 heading towards hedge-fund regulation

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Published 02 April 2009

World leaders will pledge to regulate major hedge funds for the first time and set up a new oversight board to monitor the global financial system, according to draft conclusions released by the G20.

The draft, obtained by Reuters from delegation officials at the G20 summit, also said leaders would vow to cooperate over economic policies to restore global growth and "refrain from competitive devaluation of our currencies". 

Leaders of the world's largest industrialised and emerging economies are due to finalise their plan for reviving growth and stabilising the financial system at a summit in London today (2 April). 

Missing from the draft was a toughened stance on tax havens, strongly pushed for by France and Germany. 

The draft document pledged for a strengthened role for the International Monetary Fund, giving it more responsibility for overseeing the world economy and making sure that crises do not erupt in the future. 

New resources would be made available to bolster the IMF's chest and its quasi-currency 'special drawing rights' would be expanded. 

But specific figures were not included in the draft. The outlines of a new global financial architecture were there, with a new Financial Stability Board to replace the Financial Stability Forum, which would work with the IMF on overseeing the world economy and financial system. 

IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in an interview that the funds experience of 122 banking crises suggested "that you never recover before the cleaning up of the banking sector has been done". 

He says the US is right to insist on stimulus and the EU is right to insist on regulation, but neither is doing enough on bank rescue, referring to US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's plan over toxic assets. 

Germany's Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück yesterday (1 April) ruled out any resolution scheme for the banking sector on the grounds that it would cost the taxpayer 200bn euros, which he said is not politically acceptable.

The draft release made five pledges - to restore growth and jobs, repair banks and lending, strengthen global financial institutions to deal with the crisis and prevent future ones, promote global trade and build a sustainable recovery. 

"By acting together to fulfil these pledges, we will bring the world economy out of recession and prevent a crisis from recurring in the future," according to the draft.

(EurActiv with Reuters)

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