The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it will host a roundtable discussion in June on the possibility of allowing easier access to U.S. investors for financial firms in countries with comparable regulatory regimes.

The SEC said its meeting will focus on “selective mutual recognition”, which would involve the SEC permitting certain types of foreign financial intermediaries to provide services to U.S. investors under an abbreviated registration system, provided those entities are supervised in a foreign jurisdiction under a securities regulatory regime substantially comparable (but not necessarily identical) to that in the U.S. The roundtable will explore whether selective mutual recognition would benefit U.S. investors by providing greater cross-border access to foreign investment opportunities while preserving investor protection.

The roundtable will take place on June 12, and will consist of a series of panels designed to reflect the views of different constituencies, including investors, exchanges, and broker-dealers. A separate panel also will consider the issue of how the SEC can best assess regulatory comparability and convergence.

“The U.S. capital markets are a vital part of the larger global marketplace,” said SEC chairman Christopher Cox, in a news release. “Innovations in technology have eliminated many barriers to cross-border access between U.S. and foreign markets. Consequently, it is imperative that the commission consider the implications of increased U.S. investor demand for foreign investment opportunities. At the same time, we are seeing the international coalescence of a group of securities regulators who share many of the same concerns about investor protection and market efficiency that we at the SEC have — a development that I believe could greatly improve investor protection world-wide.”

“This roundtable should assist the commission in developing an appropriate regulatory response to the changing nature of the global market, in a way that allows the SEC to strengthen its investor protection mandate,” Cox added.

Ethiopis Tafara, director of the Office of International Affairs, said, “The roundtable discussions should help to inform the Commission as to possible benefits and risks of a system of selective and reciprocal recognition. The views of the panelists should help to frame the issues raised by the globalization of the capital markets and assist the Commission in developing a regulatory approach that furthers the Commission’s primary mandate to protect investors and promote efficient capital formation.”