Dublin makes bid to be new hedge fund centre

(FT.Com): Regulators in Dublin have relaxed financial market rules in an effort to position Ireland as the European centre for a new wave of onshore hedge funds. The change, which took effect 1 September is the latest in a battle between Ireland and Luxembourg for dominance as the centre of the nascent market – a scuffle that has so far passed by London, Europe’s principal hedge fund management hub.With upcoming EU rules threatening to bar opaque, non-EU domiciled hedge funds from European investors, many managers are racing to bring versions of their Cayman or Channel-Island fund vehicles onshore by registering their funds through the EU’s existing mutual fund framework known as Ucits or “undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities”.