Meeting of CESR Market Participants Consultative Panel

18 April 2005

The Market Participants Consultative Panel held its eighth meeting on 17 March 2005 in Oslo. The discussion focused on the analysis of major trends and evolutions in financial markets, particularly wholesale and retail markets and the process of consolidation of trading and post-trading infrastructures and the EU/US regulatory and supervisory issues.

Members of the Panel expressed concerns about the costs of more stringent corporate governance regulation, illustrated by the growing number of board meetings and extra money involved to safeguard compliance with this regulation, in particular due to the Sarbanes Oxley Act.

Regarding clearing and settlement it was noted that there is still the need for more clarity on some aspects of the definition of these activities, such as the definitions of “settlement” and “systemic”. Still uncertain is whether the CESR-ESBC Standards will be sufficient for the future or whether a Directive will be necessary; a cost benefit analysis should be conducted before adopting any proposal for new legislation.

Public statement

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