by dvx
Fri Oct 9th, 2009 at 05:40:21 AM EST
I really shouldn't be taking the time to post this, but I can no more resist flaming, irony-replete hypocrisy than I can a bowl of salt peanuts. So I just have to share this:
Religious Intelligence - News - Church of England backs hedge fund managers
The Church Commissioners have come to the aid of hedge fund managers, telling a parliamentary commission that "onerous" regulations proposed by the European Union to govern the financial services industry would harm British charities. In a submission to the House of Lord's EU Economic and Financial Affairs and International Trade Committee, the Church Commissioners along with five other charities argued that the proposed directive regulating hedge funds would "significantly restrict our ability to generate funds to pursue our charitable missions and thus reduce our impact for public good."
The statement follows last September's charge by the Archbishop of York that hedge funds that bet on the decline of mortgage lender HBOS Plc were ``bank robbers'' and ``asset strippers."
The September submission by the Church Commissioners supports greater transparency and accountability for the financial services industry, but the proposed EU regulations would "limit the scope and potential return of our investment portfolio and hence reduce our charitable spend."
To maximize its financial returns, "we must have freedom to select the best investment managers and funds," they said.
Blessed are the poor, for they... afew
So basically, they're against bank robbery and asset-stripping, but not if it cuts into their revenue.
And we're not talking about any widow's mite here, either:
Church of England Accused of Short Selling Hypocrisy
The Church are known to have invested £13million in hedge funds with Man Group as well as a sizable amount with Auriel Capital, a hedge fund that centres on trading currency to make profit.
I'd like to see them pass that camel through the eye of a needle...
One provision above all seems to arouse their pastoral alarm:
Hedge Fund Regulation Battle Gets Spiritual | FINalternatives
In particular, the Anglican leaders said they were worried about proposals that could restrict it and other European investors to funds domiciled in the EU exclusively and possible leverage limits.
Ah yes: "Accountability is mine, sayeth the Lord." Or "To err is human, to leverage like psycho nutcase, divine."
And isn't this:
the proposed EU regulations would "limit the scope and potential return of our investment portfolio and hence reduce our charitable spend."
Just a version of the plutocrats' special pleading, to wit: financial innovation is "Good for Society"?
And anyway, it's not as if the CofE was a newbie at this game:
Church of England Accused of Short Selling Hypocrisy
Jonathan Bartley, Director of the Ekklesia think tank commented: "The archbishops should be extremely careful when attacking City "bank robbers" for short-selling and speculation.
"By its own admission it has hedged against a fall in the value of sterling and set up a currency hedging programme in 2006, effectively short-selling sterling in the currency markets."
So apparently the good of the Church must come before the good of society as a whole. As the Archbishop of Canterbury might put it, "Let us prey."
