Hedge fund trade group bans reporters from big conference

The hedge fund industry's premiere trade group, the Managed Funds Association, has decided to ban the media from its upcoming annual conference in Key Biscayne, Fla. The ban, which reverses a policy that has been in place for the entire 15-year history of the networking conference, was introduced not by the MFA's board but by the staff, according to D. Brooke Harlow, executive vice president and managing director. Ms. Harlow, who was hired in April to oversee the association's marketing and communications, refused to elaborate on the decision beyond saying: “There had been a couple of issues [related to media coverage at the event] over the last two years.” The MFA has 2,400 members and represents “the vast majority of the largest hedge fund groups in the world who manage a substantial portion of the approximately $1.5 trillion invested in absolute-return strategies,” according to the association. Ms. Harlow declined to comment on the message it might send that such a significant industry association has decided that the media is no longer allowed at its largest annual industry gathering. The hedge fund industry has come under increasing scrutiny over the past several years from lawmakers and regulators that have tried to add regulatory oversight to many of the private investment products that generally are designed for institutions and wealthy individuals. Hedge fund managers have long walked a tightrope between talking with the media and avoiding any communication that might be interpreted by regulators as general marketing, which is prohibited in the hedge fund space. It is not uncommon for trade groups and associations to host gatherings that are not open to the media. The Money Management Institute, for example, holds at least one conference per year for members only, but that has always been the rule. And the MMI does invite media to most of its events, including its annual conference. Typically, the Key Biscayne conference draws between 600 and 700 attendees, with less than a dozen media members covering the event. The MFA set the precedent for a media ban when it barred reporters from attending a hedge fund leadership conference in October in New York. Ms. Barlow said she couldn't say for certain whether the media will be allowed to attend the MFA's second-largest annual gathering, the MFA Forum, held in June in Chicago. That event typically attracts about 500 attendees and more than two dozen members of the media.