Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, leader of the Party of European Socialists and prime mover behind the proposed European Union Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive, has done little to endear himself to Europe’s financial services industry.

He appears to dislike hedge fund and private equity managers whose "antics", he says, have cost pension schemes "enormous sums of money". But his aversion to alternative investment fund managers is not a reason to avoid listening to what he has to say. A lot of it makes sense.