Hedge funds and financial stability

Much has been achieved to date in containing the financial stability risks that hedge funds could pose, while avoiding unnecessary restrictions that would distort market forces and prevent hedge funds from continuing to play their role in today’s markets. But in a continuously changing financial market environment, sustained attention is required by market participants and supervisory authorities to assess ongoing market developments and address any weaknesses in counterparty risk management practices and market discipline at an early stage. Dealers in the aggregate appear to be fairly well protected at present against the direct counterparty credit risks from hedge fund defaults, but the robustness of margining practices to a major deterioration in market conditions and liquidity needs to be examined further. The broader financial effects, via a deterioration in market liquidity and prices, from a market shock affecting hedge funds and other leveraged institutions remain difficult to gauge. This highlights the importance of improved stress testing and scenario analysis practices. A critical challenge in this regard will be to ensure improved assessment and mitigation of tail risks by all key participants in the system, so that unrealistic expectations that risks can be transferred to others do not lead to moral hazard and wider risks to the financial system.