US fund association picks new board

NEW YORK, Oct 02 (Reuters): The Managed Funds Association, an alternative asset management trade group, announced on Wednesday its new board of directors, as well as its chair Jody Gunderson, managing principal at $16 billion credit investment firm AB CarVal, as the industry prepares for the threat of higher taxes and new regulation.
The new team comes as the advocacy group representing $3.2 trillion in assets managed by hedge funds and private credit and equity firms prepares for potential changes in federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, as the US will elect a new president in November, and for discussions around a tax bill that expires in 2025.
New administrations usually replace policymakers and regulators, such as the chair of the SEC.
MFA scored a big win for the alternative asset industry this year on the regulatory front, as a US appeals court in June overturned a major SEC rule imposing stricter oversight of private funds, in a fresh blow for chair Gary Gensler's ambitious agenda to boost transparency and stamp out conflicts of interest on Wall Street.
It was the first time MFA sued a regulator. Besides the private funds rule, the group has sued the regulator over a rule requiring firms that routinely deal in government bonds to register as broker-dealers and another rule aimed at boosting transparency of short-selling. Both cases are still pending decision.
Gunderson, who is replacing current MFA Chair Natalie Birrell, president of Anchorage Capital Group, said the industry group is "trying to game plan for the different scenarios that it will face" and how to "advance the industry's agenda."