The US Treasury released its guidelines for investors in hedge funds, and supported a "buyer beware" approach only days after the Securities and Exchange Commission suffered a backlash for proposing limits on the type of investors that can access the asset class.

The guidelines are the result of a study by the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, a group that includes the Secretary of the Treasury, and the chairmen of the Federal Reserve, Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.