Analysis: Hedge Fund Nation Britain Looks Exposed

Summary

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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain, with its dependence on property speculation, consumer debt and the spoils of high finance, is looking very vulnerable to the global credit crunch. And as for Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and his bank's interest rate decision on Thursday [Oct. 4], he is hardly in a position or of a disposition to kiss and make it better.

If one definition of a hedge fund is a financial services vehicle that charges high fees, uses lots of leverage and produces outsize returns, then Britain over the past decade pretty much fits the bill. All well and good, so long as the money is there to borrow, and the markets you go long on - in Britain's case property and financial services - do well.

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Analysis: Hedge Fund Nation Britain Looks Exposed

But there are good reasons to believe that this particular national investment strategy can go down as well as up, to use the language of disclaimers.

Financial services in Britain are almost c...

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