The Securities and Exchange Commission and North American Securities Administrators Association are joining forces to improve communication in enforcing activities against market players such as broker-dealers and mutual funds.

SEC chairman William Donaldson and NASAA president Christine Bruenn announced a plan to address issues of coordination and cooperation between federal and state securities enforcement authorities. The initiative will focus on enforcement activities against market players and will explore protocols for facilitating cooperation and coordination.

A working group of six representatives of SEC staff and six reps of NASAA will study ways to improve cooperation. One goal is to foster national market efficiency by promoting federal and state communication. Enhanced communication should help in cases that involve more than one jurisdiction and will also help build consensus regarding enforcement remedies.

“Investors will benefit from better coordination between federal and state regulators,” Donaldson said in a statement. “By working toward a systematic protocol that will allow us to maximize our collective resources, we can be more effective at pinpointing and addressing the fraud and abuse we’ve seen in our securities markets over the past few years. Additionally, we can do a better job of ensuring consistency in our laws and regulations affecting the securities industry.”

Bruenn said the moves formalize “the long-standing complementary working relationship between state and federal securities regulators. It should lead to more effective and coordinated efforts in significant enforcement actions.”