Hedge Funds Need Time To Fight Terror

Hedge funds could find themselves with up to six more months to get their houses in order.

The new legislation, passed after the terrorist attacks on September 11th, requires all financial institutions to have comprehensive anti-money laundering procedures in place and to strictly monitor client accounts to ensure that money is not routed to illegal groups.

Federal regulators are particularly concerned about the $550bn hedge fund industry. Last year investigators probed certain funds to establish whether monies had been invested on behalf of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and other terrorist groups.