Hedge fund practitioners have expressed concerns over plans by the Serious Fraud Office to implement a system to detect crime among their ranks, saying it unfairly targets an industry that is no more susceptible to illegality than in other areas of the financial world.

The SFO has said this week that it is trying to develop an early warning detection system for hedge funds. Richard Alderman, a director of the SFO, told a briefing on Wednesday: "We're looking in particular at a system of red flags to give warnings in respect of hedge funds" according to Thomson Reuters.