Secret Hedge-Fund Polls Imperil Market Integrity, U.K. MP Warns

Morgan threatens regulations if poll industry fails to reform
Exit polls offer "profitable, and arguably unfair" advantage

On June 25 a Bloomberg investigation revealed how hedge funds hired pollsters and cashed in on the Brexit referendum.Source: Bloomberg

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By Cam Simpson, Gavin Finch, and Kit Chellel

September 27, 2018 at 11:01 PM UTC

Lucrative polls conducted in secret for hedge funds, revealed by a Bloomberg investigation into the 2016 Brexit vote, “risk damaging the reputation of U.K. financial markets,” the head of an influential parliamentary committee has warned.

Nicky Morgan, who chairs Parliament’s Treasury Committee, threatened in a letter to the head of the British Polling Council to explore new regulations for "market-sensitive polling" unless pollsters overhaul their own standards, beginning with more transparency about who they are working for. “The integrity of U.K. financial markets is a key concern of the Treasury Committee, and the Bloomberg report raises concerns in this regard," Morgan said in a statement Friday as she released the to the public.