Berlin – Finance Minister Peer Steinbr\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00bcck of Germany said that the U.S. policy of providing guidelines to hedge funds was “not enough” as he sought European support to subject the funds to a code of conduct.<\/p>\n
Germany and the United States are at odds over how to toughen oversight of the $1.5 trillion hedge fund industry, with Steinbr\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00bcck pushing a formal code while Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr. of the United States supports a set of principles that informs investors and leaves them to monitor risk.<\/p>\n
“We need to see what kinds of benchmarks are developed to ensure these practices are implemented,” Steinbr\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00bcck told reporters Saturday after a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers from the 27-country European Union in Berlin.<\/p>\n
The EU is planning to form a joint proposal when its finance ministers next meet in Brussels on May 8 before those from the Group of 8 governments convene in Potsdam, Germany, a week later. Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister and finance minister of Luxembourg, said that there was a “good chance” that the German initiative would be endorsed.<\/p>\n