Treasury outlines toothless hedge-fund rules

Kevin G. Hall | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: April 15, 2008 10:29:09 PM

WASHINGTON — With an eye toward shoring up shaky financial markets, Treasury Department officials unveiled a plan Tuesday to provide greater transparency and management of risk in hedge funds.

However, the Bush administration's "best practices" proposal is voluntary, and less than two dozen of the more than 8,000 registered hedge funds signed onto the plan.

Hedge funds are large pools of investment capital owned by the wealthy. They are largely unregulated.