Hedge fund practitioners have expressed anger at the latest move by a European regulator to restrict short selling of financial stocks, arguing that it deprives the industry "of the ability to profit on the downside". The move by the Dutch regulator comes as its US peer announced an end to its restrictions.

The Dutch regulator Autoriteit Financiele Markten yesterday prohibited speculators from increasing existing positions in eight financial firms listed in Amsterdam including Aegon, ING Group and Fortis.