Ok, well...not quite. But they're going to be watching you guys very closely. Closer to home, the SEC is heating up its investigation into front running...taking a hard look at whether hedge funds are inappropriately benefiting from inside info supplied by investment banks. Other inside-the-beltway regulatory maneuvers are also afoot, including:

High-ranking Treasury Department officials held 15 meetings over three days last year with representatives from prominent hedge funds, investors, lawyers and others to gather information about hedge funds' operations. Next week, the President's Working Group on Financial Markets -- comprising leaders from the Treasury, the Federal Reserve Board, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission -- will meet and consider issuing a statement that highlights the importance of the funds to the market and the risks, insiders say.

More on potential regulation and the steps the hedge fund industry are taking to prevent it, via The Washington Post.

-- MDT

Labels: front running, hedge fund, investigation, regulations, SEC

Institutional Investor Daily has the coverage on new proposals from the SEC for how the agency will handle hedge fund regulation. The securities regulator faced a setback in this arena several months back when it came out on the losing side of a court battle over its existing hedge fund regs.

Check out the dailyii post for more details on what hedge funds and their burgeoning numbers of investors can expect from the SEC in the new year. You can also check out the SEC proposed rules here.

-- MDT

Labels: hedge fund, homeland security, Phillip Goldstein, regulations