Membership Has Its Benefits, Hedge Funds Find

When it registering one's hedge fund with federal regulators, membership has its benefits, according to a report released Wednesday by Greenwich Associates shows.

The rule, which required all hedge funds to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission  by February, has since been deemed illegal by the U.S. Court of Appeals.

"Almost two-thirds of respondents said they planned to proceed with mock inspections or year-end compliance reviews," said John Feng, a consultant with the Greenwich, Conn.-based firm. The overturned registration rule subjected hedge funds to annual reporting and possible SEC examinations. In some cases, fund managers said that remaining registered makes good business sense. "The development of procedures and practices like these may prove the ultimate legacy of the SEC's brief fling with mandatory registration," said Feng.

Less than one-fifth of those surveyed said they planned to de-register, while 27% said that, in fact, they would remain on SEC rolls. Fifty-five percent of respondents had not yet decided, according to the study.  The average participant fund had $2.9 billion in assets under management.