E Fund Management has announced plans to launch what it bills as China's first officially-registered hedge fund. The firm is seeking not institutions but rather China's growing population of millionaires, which now number nearly a half milllion. The firm has already applied to the China Securities Regulatory Commission with details about the fund, which may take the form of separately managed accounts for individuals, reports FINalternatives. Article

This story is fraught with PR lessons. Recall that hedge fund Eliot Management, run by Paul Singer, embarked on a widely publicized, self-described "witch hunt" in search of the employee, investor or whoever it was that leaked a memo containing confidential performance numbers to the hedge fund magazine Absolute Return +Alpha.

Apparently the firm has given up the hunt "because developments since the application was filed made the discovery unnecessary," reports the New York Post.

Not too long ago, as Citigroup became a ward of the federal government, CEO Vikram Pandit (Vikram Pandit news) could do no right. Sheila Bair, of the FDIC, wanted him out. Employees questioned his management abilities. And the world seemed to conclude that as a hedge fund guy and an introvert, he was not the right fit for a consumer-oriented bank.

Are shareholders losing faith in Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS)? For the short-term, maybe. Axa pared its position. Now pundit  James Cramer writes that there are many reasons not to own the stock at these levels. He notes insider sales and the tarnished reputation. Article

How bad is the commercial real estate market right now? Well, after a Godsend of a run prior to the financial crisis, reality has set in. For Blackstone, the travails have led to clawbacks.

"Some of its managers returned $3 million in carried interest to investors in Blackstone Real Estate Partners International LP during the second quarter, a person with knowledge of the payments told Bloomberg. "They may pay back an estimated $15.7 million this quarter to another fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners IV."