From Reuters.com: Stock market watchdogs gave their conditional blessing on Tuesday for the inclusion of hedge fund indices in European Union-regulated funds for small investors. The European Commission, the bloc's top financial regulator, had asked the EU's 27 national market supervisors to see whether consumers should be given a wider choice by allowing hedge fund indices in funds known as UCITS. Such indices would give small investors indirect exposure to a global sector where assets have shot up to $1.5 trillion, triggering concerns among some politicians that the loosely regulated industry needs greater supervision. In some EU states, small investors are barred from investing in hedge funds directly. Most funds in the EU are UCITS, seen as the gold standard of open-ended mutual funds, and they represent 5.5 trillion euros ($7.6 trillion) of assets. In return for allowing firms to offer them across the EU, they are heavily regulated to protect investors. Source : http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news...52Z_01_L17271499_RTRIDST_0_EU-MUTUALFUNDS.XML