Briefly: “Hedge funds back in the black” and more news

The hedge fund industry has finally recouped the assets it lost during the height of the credit crunch and is back to 2008 levels, according to new data from Eurekahedge.

Industry assets stand at US$1.63 trillion after the value of its investments rose by $18 billion (2.27%) and investors injected a net $10.2 billion in October.

October was the fourth consecutive month that hedge funds made money. They are up 7.3% this year, compared with 4.6% from global markets, Eurekahedge notes.

The data provider also indicated that more than 600 funds have launched this year.

– April Scott-Clarke

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IRS gets more than 4,000 UBS account IDs

America’s Internal Revenue Service is withdrawing its federal court summons seeking identities of suspected U.S. tax cheats at Swiss bank UBS AG after receiving more than 4,000 names.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman announced Tuesday that UBS had met terms of its August 2009 agreement to reveal the identities. Many will be prosecuted for tax evasion. The IRS used the summons filed in Miami to enforce the agreement.

Shulman says the IRS expects to eventually obtain more than 7,500 account holder names from UBS from the agreement and other methods.

Last month federal prosecutors dismissed a parallel criminal tax evasion case against UBS after the bank met terms of a deferred prosecution agreement. The bank in that case paid a $780 million fine.

– The Associated Press

(11/16/10)

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.