the offices where the london metal exchange is headquartered are seen in the city of london britain january 18 2018 reuterspeter nicholls london june 8 reuters  a hedge fund association has complained to the london metal exchange lme about the suspension of the nickel market and cancellation of nickel trades in march saying the exchange failed to meet its regulatory obligations benchmark nickel on the lme doubled to a record above 100000 a tonne in disorderly trade on march 8 on expectations chinas tsingshan holding group and others would have to buy back their short positions  bets on lower prices the lme has undermined confidence in its ability to oversee markets by failing to perform its regulatory obligations to maintain an orderly market manage conflicts of interest and protect investors in the nickel market the managed funds association mfa said as an important provider of liquidity in the metal markets the alternative asset management industry encourages the lme to take swift action to redress these regulatory shortcomings the lme did not immediately respond to a request for comment following the suspension uk financial regulators in april launched a sweeping probe into how the lme suspended the nickel trading a move that prompted angry protests from market participants and damaged the exchanges reputation us hedge fund elliott associates and jane street global trading are suing the lme for 456 million and 153 million respectively for cancelled nickel trades read more the lme is also commissioning its own review aiming to identify actions to minimise the risk of a disorderly market in future read more we note as a preliminary matter that the suggested scope of the independent reviewdoes not address some of the points we make in our complaint including the proper relationship between lme and lme clear said the mfa which represents more than 150 firms which together manage nearly 26 trillion metal industry sources have highlighted the potential conflict of interest with the lme owning its clearing house the exchange has not yet made any announcement on when the review will start or when the market can expect the results