With the prospect of new hedge fund regulations in the U.S. on the near horizon, the industry’s top lobbyist has redoubled its efforts—and doubled its fourth-quarter lobbying budget.
The Managed Funds Association spent $1.08 million over the last three months of 2009 lobbying on such issues as requiring hedge funds to register with the SEC, despite the fact that the measure is a near-certainty and that the MFA itself has expressed support, in principle, for mandatory registration. The MFA also lobbied on President Barack Obama’s proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, new derivatives regulations and a proposal that would force defined benefit pension plans to disclose their hedge fund investments, according to a filing with the House of Representatives’ clerk’s office.