SIFMA releases white paper on strengthening regulatory cooperation

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) released a white paper that explores alternative ways to strengthen bilateral regulatory cooperation between rule-makers in different jurisdictions.

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The paper, titled Bilateral Regulatory Cooperation – Building Dialogues for Growth and Jobs, outlines how a new standard of regulatory cooperation could look and operate. It would be grounded in firm commitments by the cooperating parties as to how they will function and be governed without relying on formal trade agreement frameworks. Further, it would for a meaningful role for the private sector, the paper explains.

“Effective regulatory cooperation between regulators in different jurisdictions is vital in both delivering financial stability and ensuring that the global financial system can make its full contribution to economic growth,” the paper states. “Cooperation must take place at the multilateral and the bilateral level. Existing bilateral mechanisms, such as the U.S./EU Forum, are insufficiently robust to help the two jurisdictions really enhance the coherence of their respective regulations.”

SIFMA says divergent thinking on how to improve bilateral cooperation has impeded change in how it is achieved. With the U.K. re-examining international relationships in light of Brexit and the United States redefining some of its economic relationships, it is a good time to look at how jurisdictions can most effectively cooperate. The paper is available online at www.sifma.org.