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By Benedicte Gravrand

Codes of conduct and self-regulation programs are becoming popular in the hedge fund industry.

The growth of SRI hedge funds (Kenmar, Green Cay A.M., Winslow Management Company, 3A Alternative Asset Advisors, etc.) shows how willing fund managers are to allocate for investors’ different ideologies and concerns. Strict Catholics or charities can invest in Catholic hedge funds (The Good Steward FofF, Gabelli A.M.) which typically exclude companies involved in abortion, contraception, stem cells, and pornography and sometimes defence contractors from their portfolios.

And since late last year, we have had newcomers in the heterogeneous hedge fund market: the Shariah hedge funds. These have been created as Islamic investors have begun demanding more sophisticated instruments for investing their money. They want these investment alternatives to comply with both Shariah standards and international norms of financial investments.

The Islamic financial market has become one of the fastest growing sectors with an annual growth rate of 15 per cent and a market exceeding US$700 billion (KPMG). Most Muslim markets subscribe to varying degrees to Shariah regulations.

The Dow Jones, MSI and S&P have recently launched Shariah Indexes. The UK government, who is already listing sukuk - the Islamic bonds (1) - on the London Stock Exchange, is planning to issue Islamic financial instruments by 2008 and may well be the first Western government to do so.......................

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