The U.S. Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) calls for a new approach to cross-border regulatory co-operation in a white paper published Thursday.
The trade group’s white paper examines new ways to strengthen bilateral regulatory co-operation. Amid geopolitical events, such as Brexit and the U.S.-China trade tensions, SIFMA says that there’s an opportunity to reconsider the existing approach to co-operation.
“Effective regulatory co-operation 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 says.
However, existing mechanisms, “are insufficiently robust to help the two jurisdictions really enhance the coherence of their respective regulations,” says the paper.
The paper advocates for a middle ground between the existing ad hoc mechanisms for cross-border co-operation, and enshrining certain measures in trade agreements.
It calls for “a new standard of regulatory cooperation, grounded in strong commitments by the cooperating parties as to how they will function and be governed, but without relying on formal trade agreement frameworks, and allowing a meaningful role for the private sector.”
According to SIMFA, a new mechanism should include: clear timetables, published goals and objectives, transparency, meaningful industry consultation, as well as a follow-up process, which could be governed through robust memorandums of understanding, rather than being enshrined in law.
The full white paper can be found here: https://www.sifma.org/resources/submissions/bilateral-regulatory-cooperation/.