Do the recommendations relating to distribution of hedge funds mean that any product from an “exotic” jurisdiction should be marketable to everybody in Europe without regulatory monitoring?
No. In order to avoid excessively liberal retail access to hedge fund investing, the group agreed that only investors wishing to invest a minimum of 50,000 should be considered. In addition, the safeguards in shape of the graduated conduct of business rules which the MiFID-regulated entity/placement agent must offer to the client/counterparty will apply. These will be non-existent in the case of financial institutions and other eligible counterparties, will be reduced for professional investors and will apply fully in the case of retail investors.
