This seems like good news:
A divided Securities and Exchange Commission approved new rules on Wednesday that would impose sweeping requirements on large hedge funds and other private investment advisers, a first for an industry that has long eluded Washington oversight.
Venture capital funds and some small hedge funds are excused from the rules, although these firms will still have to report some basic information to regulators.
The rules will require hedge funds, private equity shops and other advisers that mange more than $150 million to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and turn over an array of crucial information. The funds will disclose details about the inner workings of their firms, the funds they oversee and their investors.
“Today’s rules will fee a key gap in the regulatory landscape,” Mary Schapiro, the agency’s chairwoman, said at a public meeting in Washington. “In particular, our proposal will give the commission, and the public, insight into hedge fund and other private fund managers who previously conducted their work under the radar and outside the vision of regulators.”
But for now, the new oversight regime is on hold. Regulators agreed to delay the start date of the rules until March 30, 2012, a nearly nine month reprieve.
Why was this never done before?