The US-based Managed Funds Association, whose membership consists of professionals running hedge funds, funds of funds and managed futures funds, has announced the establishment of a new c

The US-based Managed Funds Association, whose membership consists of professionals running hedge funds, funds of funds and managed futures funds, has announced the establishment of a new class of membership for service providers.

The organisation says the new MFA Strategic Partners membership class will provide an opportunity for service providers to play a role in furthering the association's goal of promoting industry growth.

'We are pleased to announce this important new initiative to partner with significant service providers with a common goal,' says president and chief executive Richard H. Baker. 'The strategic partners will join MFA in a collaborative effort to ensure that all participants in the alternative investment industry, fund managers and their counterparties, work together to maintain a robust and healthy industry committed to market discipline.'

The inaugural group of service providers who will join the MFA as strategic partners consists of CME Group, Citco Fund Services (USA), Credit Suisse, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, Ernst & Young, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers; PricewaterhouseCoopers and UBS.

The service providers will form a new MFA Strategic Partners' Council that will discuss current issues, propose policy and initiatives and communicate with the organisation's leadership. The council will meet with the MFA's board of directors and interact with the organisation's Founders' Council and the steering committee of its hedge fund advisory committee to establish a dialogue designed to foster an environment of industry-wide sound practices.

Established in 1991 with headquarters in Washington, DC and an office in New York, the MFA acts a source of information for policymakers and the media and as an advocate for sound business practices and industry growth.