Industry Updates

MFA announces plan to collect industry data

Friday, January 08, 2010

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Opalesque Industry Updates - Managed Funds Association (MFA), the leading association of the alternative investment industry, today announced it will launch an initiative to gather information from hedge funds, funds of funds and managed futures funds, for use in its industry education and advocacy efforts using the PerTrac P-Card. P-Cards are secure email attachments that can contain an array of manager-designated data such as strategy descriptions, investment terms, portfolio exposure data and investment returns.

Richard H. Baker, MFA President and CEO, said, “As the primary source of industry information for policy makers, the media and the public, it’s important that we collect and aggregate data in a confidential and timely manner from as many managers as possible. Following a lengthy search, MFA has selected PerTrac Financial Solutions as its partner in order to collect basic industry data, such as assets under management, the number of existing funds and number of industry-wide employees, while allowing managers to retain confidentiality. PerTrac’s P-Card is a secure tool that we will use to gather and aggregate information that will allow us to better understand and represent the global alternative investment industry. In addition, P-Cards have utility outside of MFA’s efforts, allowing for and encouraging increased and more frequent communication and transparency between managers and investors, which is a key goal of MFA.”

MFA will share information on the industry solely on an aggregated basis in an effort to educate policy makers, the media and the public and to advocate for appropriate regulation and industry growth. MFA will use a third-party accounting firm to collect the data on its behalf. No fund-specific information collected via PerTrac P-Card, including fund names, will be released under any circumstances.

Gerry Mintz, PerTrac President and CEO, said, “PerTrac P-Card is a revolutionary tool which allows fund managers to communicate information to investors confidentially and directly using a secure e-mail attachment. More than 110 funds around the world have already registered to use P-Cards to keep their investors and prospects up-to-date on qualitative, performance and risk information. We are excited that MFA has chosen PerTrac P-Card as its preferred method of fund data collection, as it will help accelerate the adoption of this exciting new technology. As adoption increases, the alternative investment community will benefit from improved and more efficient transparency, and we are delighted that the MFA is leading the industry towards this critical goal.” Corporate Website: www.managedfunds.org

- FG

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