Speech by SEC Chairman:
Closing Statement at the SEC Hedge Fund Roundtable

by

Chairman William H. Donaldson

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

Washington, D.C.
May 15, 2003

This brings to a close what I think we all can agree has been an informative, helpful and provocative two days of discussion regarding all aspects of hedge funds - how they are structured, how they operate, how they are managed and how they currently are regulated. We've also identified issues of concern. As I believe the Roundtable has demonstrated, hedge funds play an important role in our markets and offer investors legitimate and, often times, lucrative investment opportunities. I believe our discussions also have demonstrated that it is an appropriate time to review hedge funds and our regulation of them.

The next phase for the Commission and the staff is to analyze what we've learned over the past two days at this Roundtable and through our previous fact-finding. Therefore, I encourage you to submit comments to us as you reflect on the past two days. As I stated yesterday, and want to emphasize again, the discussion does not end with the close of this Roundtable.

This is, perhaps, the most critical phase yet, as it allows us to review the input from various experts as well as the data we've collected so far. Therefore, I am asking the staff to prepare a report that will summarize our findings and include recommendations for any actions that should be taken - whether legislative or regulatory - to ensure that hedge fund investors are adequately protected. I look forward to the staff's report, which the Commission will make public.

http://www.sec.gov/news/speech/spch051503whd.htm