ASIC has released the finding of its 2012 survey of the potential for hedge funds in Australia to pose a systemic risk to financial markets, with the conclusion that there appears to be no such risk at the present time.
The survey also found that the largest funds (those with over $500 million in assets) had relatively low levels of borrowing and leverage.
However it should be noted that the survey only covered a small number of funds based on the $500m cutoff in assets, and that these represented just 42% of the total assets in the sector as at September 2012.
ASIC's survey estimated that over half of Australia's hedge funds manage less than $50 million, and only 8% manage more than the $500 million cutoff. Furthermore the sector as a whole represented just 3% of the total $2.13 trillion managed by the Australian funds management industry.
ASIC's full report is available here.
Attached Files:
ASIC Report 370 (pdf format)
