When 14 of London’s biggest hedge funds, running more than $180bn (£89bn) of assets, got together earlier this year to draw up a code of practice even some of them regarded it as a transparent attempt to mollify German concerns about the industry.

But Wednesday’s chunky report by the Hedge Fund Working Group, which runs to 128 pages, went further than many observers expected in trying to address worries that hedge funds could damage the global financial system, while also calling for greater transparency from the secretive industry.