Obamas Treasury pick says U.S. should consider hedge-fund registration

Date: Friday, January 23, 2009
Author: APP.com

Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be Treasury secretary, said he believes that the U.S. needs to consider the registration of hedge funds.

“The financial crisis has highlighted the urgent need to overhaul the oversight of our financial system,” he said in written testimony to the Senate Finance Committee. “With an objective of bringing greater transparency and oversight, I believe that we should consider requiring registration of hedge funds.”

Hedge funds are private, largely unregulated pools of capital whose managers can buy or sell any assets, bet on falling as well as rising asset prices and participate substantially in profits from money invested.