While the Volcker Rule may not apply in Asia, the legal system including prisons may be slightly different. This is an industry that likes to brag about the billions they trade and yes, there are a fair number of hedge fund traders around the world. The problem always comes back to problems of secrecy and what we discovered during the crash, excessive risk. The reward is completely tilted in favor of Goldman and other similar organizations who want to gamble. There are enough pension funds that were burned by these funds that we’re better off letting them take their show on the road. Roll the dice and see how it works out, for better or worse. It’s certainly better that it’s someone else’s money this time.

Wall street banks are in the process of scaling back their proprietary trading desks to comply with the “Volcker rule” and letting some of their traders go, which limits the extent to which they can bet with their own capital. Goldman is winding down its Principal Strategies Group, a unit of about 70 proprietary traders, while JPMorgan is reassigning its proprietary traders to its asset management unit. A Credit Suisse commodity trader departed with a team of proprietary traders in September to set up their own hedge fund. Bank of America has also cut staff who traded for the bank’s account.