Following the startling arrest of Raj Rajaratnam, the founder of the Galleon Group, hedge fund managers are seeking to quickly step up their own internal checks on the activities of their funds and their traders. The FT reports that hedge funds fear that “what used to be seen as minor trading floor indiscretions have the chance to be prosecuted as significant crimes.”
One portfolio manager told the FT that
60 per cent of the [Galleon-related] charges are for the kind of stuff you see people doing all the time. Swapping rumours and trading on them is how the whole system works. It’s always the hedge funds that get targeted though because we’re perceived as being fair game.
The FT adds that at most of the biggest funds, at least, robust regulatory and compliance programs similar to those at banks are already in place.
