长期资本管理

The Honorable J. Dennis Hastert
The Speaker
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Mr. Speaker:
We are pleased to transmit the report of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets on
Hedge Funds, Leverage, and the Lessons of Long-Term Capital Management (LTCM).
The principal policy issue arising out of the events surrounding the near collapse of LTCM is how
to constrain excessive leverage. By increasing the chance that problems at one financial
institution could be transmitted to other institutions, excessive leverage can increase the likelihood
of a general breakdown in the functioning of financial markets. This issue is not limited to hedge
funds; other financial institutions are often larger and more highly leveraged than most hedge
funds.
In view of our findings, the Working Group recommends a number of measures designed to
constrain excessive leverage. These measures are designed to improve transparency in the
system, enhance private sector risk management practices, develop more risk-sensitive approaches
to capital adequacy, support financial contract netting in the event of bankruptcy, and encourage
offshore financial centers to comply with international standards.
The LTCM incident highlights a number of tax issues with respect to hedge funds, including the
tax treatment of total return equity swaps and the use of offshore financial centers. These issues,
however, are beyond the scope of this report and are being addressed separately by Treasury.
A number of other federal agencies were full participants in this study and support its conclusions
and recommendations: the Council of Economic Advisers, the Federal Deposit Insurance
Corporation, the National Economic Council, the Fede
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