Managed Funds Association calls for loosening of short selling regulation

Bans 'exacerbated volatility'

The Managed Funds Association has called for the loosening of various regulations on short selling, arguing that the current system is overly burdensome.

As part of the UK government's short selling regulation review, the trade association submitted a letter to the Treasury outlining three methods it said would improve short selling regulation. First, the MFA argued for individual firm public disclosure of net short positions to be dropped, noting that research had indicated that disclosure had a ‘chilling effect' on short selling and can lead to herding behaviour. Instead, the organisation supported publicly disclosing the aggregate net short positions on an issuer-by-issuer basis, which it said would "promote market efficiency and pr...