In response to a question from EDHEC on whether hedge funds could be considered to be at the origin of the subprime crisis, or whether they were in fact victims of the crisis, Commissioner Atkins, who stressed that the views he expressed did not necessarily reflect those of the SEC or of his fellow commissioners, said that, "Although we and our counterparts in government are monitoring and looking into the origins of the events of the last year, it does not seem that hedge funds were the origin of the subprime problems. Certainly, hedge funds, along with many other market participants, have been hit quite hard by the problems in the subprime market."

Commissioner Atkins remained optimistic however about the outlook for the hedge fund industry, declaring that he was, "confident in predicting that the hedge fund sector will continue to flourish." In remarks that have wider relevance for investors, he also said that the SEC can do little to control hedge fund risks, nor is it our role to do so. The SEC does not issue a seal of approval for hedge funds, so it is incumbent upon investors to demand information about the fund both before and after investing.

For the full version of the interview, please refer to the EDHEC-Risk website:

http://www.edhec-risk.com/Interview/RISKArticle.2008-01-14.5808