The IAFE launched the Investor Risk Committee (IRC) in 2000 as an area-specific working group to provide a forum for practitioners and academics in the field of investing to study risk and its surrounding issues. The IRC is composed of individual members: fund managers, institutional investors, as well as regulators, prime brokers, consultants, custodians, software and technology vendors and others who are active in the fund arena.

The IRC's collective experience in pricing across multiple individual portfolios, asset classes, and geographic locations is both broad and substantial. In November 2003, Investor Risk Committee released a white paper on valuation for public comment. The document was designed to help stakeholders develop their own set of criteria, as part of ongoing discussions about valuation procedures with managers. The public comment period ended on February 27, 2004. The final version of "Valuation Concepts for Investment Companies and Financial Institutions and Their Stakeholders" was released on June 9, 2004 can be found online by clicking on this link.

From 2000 to 2002, the IRC focused on the right level of disclosure and transparency for hedge funds. With the goal of providing a forum for frank discussion, the IRC hosted over a dozen workshops and meetings on this timely issue in the US and Europe. Furthermore, the IRC released two consensus documents, which are available online at www.iafe.org. These documents present a thorough review of the IRC's approach to hedge fund transparency and disclosure to date and outline areas for further work.

Members of the IRC have the opportunity to participate actively in relevant industry discussions, at meetings and via email. IRC Members are also asked for feedback on proposed white papers and related material.