Dear Hedge Funds Professional,

On July 21, 2010, President Obama signed into law the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, that has several impacts within the investment management and hedge funds community.

Adviser Registration, Investor Certifications, Reporting, Expanded Disclosure Requirements, the Volcker Rule, Shorting, Arbitrage, Tighter Leverage Requirements, New Accredited Investor Definition, Possibility of Hedge Funds Being Designated Systemically Important Financial Institutions, everything is different.

In Europe we have another directive with important impacts within the investment management and hedge funds community, the Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFM).

The AIFM Directive aims to create a comprehensive and effective regulatory and supervisory framework for AIFM (that include the managers of hedge funds and private equity funds).

It looks like every regulator and supervisor around the world is calling for more direct hedge fund regulation.

When this is difficult, they try an indirect regulatory approach, changing the rules for the counterparties of hedge funds, using for example Basel ii / Basel iii and other best practices.

All regulated financial institutions have to comply with Basel ii / Basel iii.

You are a hedge funds manager, administrator, analyst, or mathematician. Perhaps you are a junior or senior consultant. Or, you do your best for the fund establishment, portfolio management, product development, financial control, financial reporting, regulatory reporting, tax reporting , compliance monitoring, sales, marketing, relations.

You work in a team that provides market with liquidity, and investors with a wide choice of strategies to meet their investment objectives.

You work in a team that has the ability to generate positive returns in both rising and falling markets.

You work in a team that gives investors opportunities for absolute returns, skill-based strategies and diversification.

But you live in a world that believes that you are paid ridiculously well regardless of performance.

There are some jobs almost all hate, and one of them is your job.

Nobody really knows what you do and how difficult it is, but they have no problem: You simply make money looking at numbers on a computer screen.

People love people like Bill Gates, who makes billions for delivering products like Windows, but dislike or hate hedge fund managers (and their teams) who make really good money only when their funds are delivering absolute returns to their investors.

We have to explain to the world what hedge funds professionals and their consultants do in order to make money. The challenges, the difficulties, the risks, the nights without sleep, the tension.

We have also to explain simple things, like performance fees that are similar to stock options for the CEO.

We live in a secretive environment, because they love to copy our strategies and positions, but we have to know each other better and to leave the world learn more about us.

Membership in the International Association of Hedge Funds Professionals (IAHFP) is free.

At every stage of your career, our community provides training, certification programs, resources, updates, networking and services you can use.

Investment in compliance and risk management will see returns.

Join us.