试论对冲基金监管现状及措施

随着金融全球化的发展，对冲基金的跨国活动对全球金融稳定的影响已成为全球金融监管者关注的问题。如何加强对对冲基金的监管，减少对冲基金对金融体系稳定性的负面影响，成为全球金融业面临的一项挑战。笔者在陈述对冲基金监管现状的基础上，简要探讨了如何对对冲基金进行监管。     

近期对冲基金业的发展特征及对我国的启示

近年来,在全球金融一体化的背景下,随着金融风险理论的发展和金融衍生工具的创新,对冲基金在数量和资产规模上都有了显著增长,并呈现出许多新的变化和特点。本文从对冲基金规模、区域分布、投资组合策略、对国际金融市场的影响、收益-风险特征变化以及监管几个方面,对对冲基金进行了研究与分析,对今后我国如何监管对冲基金进行了探讨,并提出了自己的建议。     

全球流动性过剩、对冲基金发展与中国金融稳定

全球流动性过剩导致全球金融资产激增,推动对冲基金业规模迅速膨胀,也使得对冲基金业在结构和投资动向上也出现了新的变化。对冲基金在全球寻找套利和投机机会,对全球的金融稳定产生一定的影响,在此背景下,中国需要审慎资本项目开放和加强对冲基金的监管。     

全球流动性过剩中的对冲基金:国际新动向及其对中国的启示

全球流动性过剩导致全球金融资产激增,推动对冲基金业规模迅速膨胀。与此同时,对冲基金业也出现了新的变化:投资者结构出现了机构化趋势,并受到监管当局日趋严厉的监管。这也使得对冲基金的收益和风险水平有了新的变化,呈现稳中趋降的态势。全球经济失衡和流动性过剩也推动对冲基金在全球寻找套利和投机机会,对全球的金融稳定产生一定的影响。中国需要审慎地推进资本项目开放和加强对冲基金的监管。     

全球对冲基金业的新发展及其影响

全球流动性过剩导致全球金融资产激增,推动对冲基金业规模迅速膨胀。与此同时,对冲基金业也出现了新的变化：投资者结构出现了机构化趋势,并受到监管当局日趋严厉的监管。这也使得对冲基金的收益和风险水平有了新的变化,呈现出稳中趋降的趋势。全球经济失衡和流动性过剩也推动对冲基金在全球寻找套利和投机机会,对全球的金融稳定产生一定的影响。我国需要审慎资本项目开放和加强对冲基金的监管。     

我国对冲基金的发展路径研究

对冲基金的发展为金融市场提供了流动性,减少了市场的低效率,并为投资者提供了多元化的投资途径和高额回报。但有时候,对冲基金的过度投机也被认为对金体系产生了威胁。2011年被称为中国的对冲基金元年,如何发展对冲基金,并最大限度发挥其对金融市场的正面作用是摆在我们面前的紧迫课题。由于我国资本市场仍处于新兴加转轨阶段,金融制度不够完善,衍生品市场不够成熟,在鼓励发展对冲基金的同时,监管机构也应该做好应有的风险监管工作。     

金融稳定视角下的对冲基金监管框架研究

进入新世纪以来,在低利率环境下对冲基金规模、市场影响和行业特征发生了一系列重要变化。从金融稳定视角看,对冲基金既可以基于不受直接监管的特点,向市场注入流动性,充当系统性风险"缓释器",也可以因高杠杆、隐蔽的操作直接或间接触发市场危机。为趋利避害,在构建对冲基金监管框架时,应遵循如下原则,一是避免直接限制对冲基金投资活动和风险管理细节,防止对其像共同基金或银行那样实施监管;二是在把握对冲基金市场影响传导机制的基础上控制监督关键变量,提高预警能力;三是在多元治理视角下,努力引导加强市场纪律。     

国际对冲基金监管制度比较研究与启示

对冲基金近年发展迅猛,各国根据本国国情初步建立了监管制度。本文认为应从改进治理结构、强化自律监管,加强市场约束、提高透明度等方面,沿运营流程和主要运营当事人两条线索完善对冲基金现有监管法律制度。在金融市场全面开放背景下,我国应在放开私募管制基础上根据市场和金融产品发展进程推进对冲基金逐步合法化。     

我国私募基金的存在价值和发展问题分析

私募基金的概念与大致规模私募基金从定义看是相对公募基金而言,它们最大的区别在于发行方式的不同,以是否向社会不特定公众发行或公开发行证券的区别,界定为公募和私募。国际上,私募基金从事的投资范围包括证券投资(对冲基金)、创业投资、股权投资等多个领域,并非只有股票市场。对冲基金是国外私募基金的一种。对冲基金(Hedge Fund)是那些利用不同市场进行套利交易的基金。从形式上看,对冲基金是一组投资工具,交易遍及所有市场种类,包括外汇、股票、债券、商品以及各种衍生品等。国外的对冲基金一般具有最低投资规模和资金的最短锁定期,出资人的资金在锁定期内不能撤离,保证了资金的稳定性;而且通常其规模较大,能够支付最优秀的研究费用,有助于随时掌握全球金融市场的动态,形成跨市套利的快速决策;投资策略也非常灵活,可以使用杠杆、卖空、互换、套利等一系列金融衍生产品投资技术。     

主权财富基金兴起的现状、影响及我国的发展对策

各种形式主权财富基金的悄然兴起,已经成为全球金融市场上一种新型的投资巨无霸。主权财富基金由主权国家力量控制,其投资动因与投资策略不同于一般的投资基金,对全球金融市场稳定的影响也更为复杂,因而引起了发达国家的密切关注。对于我国而言,设立主权财富基金是提高外汇储备使用效率的一种积极尝试,但要密切关注主权财富基金海外投资可能遭遇的政策风险,同时加强对流入我国的主权财富基金的监管。     

Hedge fund leverage

We investigate the leverage of hedge funds in the time series and cross-section. Hedge fund leverage is counter-cyclical to the leverage of listed financial intermediaries and decreases prior to the start of the financial crisis in mid-2007. Hedge fund leverage is lowest in early 2009 when the market leverage of investment banks is highest. Changes in hedge fund leverage tend to be more predictable by economy-wide factors than by fund-specific characteristics. In particular, decreases in funding costs and increases in market values both forecast increases in hedge fund leverage. Decreases in fund return volatilities predict future increases in leverage.     

国际金融系统风险的放大与传导:对冲基金在金融风暴中的作用

作为国际热钱的代表,对冲基金在2007～2008年金融风暴中究竟起了怎样的作用?本文首先分析了对冲基金在危机中去杠杆化操作的原因及后果;通过构造1171家美国上市银行加权平均投资组合,以其月度收益率作为美国银行业代理变量,采用1994～2008年对冲基金月度数据进行经验论证。研究发现:第一,对冲基金去杠杆化放大了系统风险;第二,对冲基金全行业具有杠杆效应的一致性;第三,对冲基金的收益水平与美国银行业紧密相关,因此,对冲基金的行动是资本市场剧烈波动的影响因素,向美国银行业传导了系统风险,推动了金融风暴的形成。最后,本文提出加强对冲基金监管的思路。     

The Performance of Hedge Funds: Risk, Return, and Incentives

Hedge funds display several interesting characteristics that may influence performance, including: flexible investment strategies, strong managerial incentives, substantial managerial investment, sophisticated investors, and limited government oversight. Using a large sample of hedge fund data from 1988–1995, we find that hedge funds consistently outperform mutual funds, but not standard market indices. Hedge funds, however, are more volatile than both mutual funds and market indices. Incentive fees explain some of the higher performance, but not the increased total risk. The impact of six data-conditioning biases is explored. We find evidence that positive and negative survival-related biases offset each other.     

Measuring the market impact of hedge funds

Hedge funds often employ opportunistic trading strategies on a leveraged basis. It is natural to find their footprints in most major market events. A “small bet” by large hedge funds can be a sizeable transaction that can impact a market. This study estimates hedge fund exposures during a number of major market events. In some episodes, hedge funds had significant exposures and were in a position to exert substantial market impact. In other episodes, hedge fund exposures were insignificant, either in absolute terms or relative to other market participants. In all cases, we found no evidence of hedge funds using positive feedback trading strategies. There was also little evidence that hedge funds systematically caused market prices to deviate from economic fundamentals.     

Corporate control and shareholder activism in Germany: An empirical analysis of hedge fund strategies

Government-initiated reforms of the German financial system two decades ago shifted corporate control activities from universal banks to capital markets. Hedge funds took advantage of these changes by acquiring stakes in weakly governed firms. For 653 hedge fund interventions between 2000 and 2020, this study analyzes the changes in financial and operating performance and firm characteristics before and after the event. We also assess the probabilities that a firm becomes a target and that an attack creates shareholders value. On average, hedge funds increased returns, with the magnitude depending on the period, level of aggressiveness, institutional ownership, and industry. Crisis and non-crisis results differ, as hedge funds strategies are mostly successful in a rising stock market environment. Typically, hedge funds targeted smaller and more visible firms with higher sales growth, lower leverage, and higher institutional ownership. After the attack, firm profitability and cash holdings decreased, leverage increased, while investments in M&A and capex declined. This research offers new empirical evidence on the success of hedge fund strategies in Germany and on the performance of targeted firms.     

HEDGE FUNDS: WHAT DO WE KNOW?

Hedge funds are attracting increased attention because of their reputation for earning superior (risk-adjusted) returns. Hedge Fund Research Inc. estimates that in 2001 there were about 7,000 hedge funds with investor capital of about $600 billion. And yet the diversity of hedge funds, combined with a general lack of transparency, makes the hedge fund industry something of a "black box."
This article provides an overview of the legal structure of hedge funds, the various fund investment strategies, and the existing research on overall hedge fund performance. Without uniform and comprehensive reporting requirements, it is difficult to ascertain the size and scope of hedge fund investments. Nonetheless, current research provides persuasive evidence that hedge funds earn positive risk-adjusted returns, on average, in contrast to their counterparts in the mutual fund industry. In an attempt to explain these higher returns, the authors begin by noting that hedge funds are subject to considerably less regulation than other investment institutions because their client base is limited to wealthy individuals and institutions. Hedge funds can thus employ investment strategies that mutual funds and pension funds are prohibited from pursuing, such as short selling, high leverage, derivatives, concentrated holdings, and limited redemptions. As a result, the funds may be able to earn excess returns by operating in illiquid and specialized markets where there is a shortage of arbitrage capital. At the same time, and perhaps even more important, hedge funds are in a better position than conventional mutual funds to attract skilled managers because of their use of performance-based incentive fee structures.     

Timing the volatility risk of beta anomaly: Evidence from hedge fund strategies

Hedge funds are known to engage in the betting-against-beta (BAB) strategy arising from beta-anomaly-related market mispricing. This paper examines if equity-oriented hedge funds time the volatility risk when executing the BAB strategy. We apply realised and downside volatility risk measures to assess the BAB strategy. We show that for top volatility risk timers, older funds tend to be better risk timers, while among the bottom volatility risk timers, younger and larger-sized funds stand out as stronger timers of BAB volatility. We observe that the Long/Short Equity funds show evidence as the strongest volatility risk timers of BAB strategy when the market condition turned bad. This is supported by their other effective timing strategies at the same time, including timing the market sentiment. Our findings provide important references for private investors when selecting hedge funds as risk management is crucial to the success/failure of any investments.     

Hedge fund marketing in an era of regulatory scrutiny

Hedge fund marketing professionals must do a better job of educating the investment industry, regulators included, in an attempt to be sure their voice is heard accurately and loudly through effective thought leadership. When more people understand the role that hedge funds play in an investment portfolio, the cloud of mystery will continue to lift and hedge fund investors will be able to make their own judgment. Hedge fund managers, financial media, investor relations professionals, and others play a key role in this process. Concurrent with this marketing focus, however, the industry must comply with the new requirements of hedge fund regulation and other legal issues. Those who fail to pay heed to the regulators may find themselves in a perilous position.     

Does the choice of performance measure influence the evaluation of hedge funds?

The Sharpe ratio is adequate for evaluating investment funds when the returns of those funds are normally distributed and the investor intends to place all his risky assets into just one investment fund. Hedge fund returns differ significantly from a normal distribution. For this reason, other performance measures for hedge fund returns have been proposed in both the academic and practice-oriented literature. In conducting an empirical study based on return data of 2763 hedge funds, we compare the Sharpe ratio with 12 other performance measures. Despite significant deviations of hedge fund returns from a normal distribution, our comparison of the Sharpe ratio to the other performance measures results in virtually identical rank ordering across hedge funds.