Coupland Cardiff Asset Management, an alternatives manager focused on Asia, has warned it will close its London headquarters and leave Europe as fears mount that plans for regulating hedge funds and private equity firms will damage the region’s competitiveness.

Writing last month to a UK parliamentary committee assessing the European Union's draft directive on alternative investment fund managers, Deborah Boyce, chief operating officer at the $300m (€203m) manager, said if no amendments were made, "we will have no choice but to relocate, or close our business altogether".