Voluntary rules for the hedge fund industry and structures claiming to offer investors regular access to their money have created an illusory sense of security, a prominent French academic has told delegates at an alternative investment conference in Brussels.

Jean-Rene Giraud, director of development of the risk and asset management research centre at French business school Edhec, said trade bodies for hedge funds were too constrained by their own members to provide codes of conduct strict enough for self regulation to be work.