EPFSF report on US-EU Financial Markets Dialogue

11 April 2007

The EPFSF issued its report on the US-EU Financial Markets Dialogue. The general interests of the EU and US are served by open and well-supervised global financial markets, as are the interests of issuers, investors and intermediaries. Since its launch in 2002 the informal EU-US Financial Markets Regulatory Dialogue has been successful in resolving differences in a number of areas and has become more effective in opening up markets.

Recent solutions achieved in the areas of de-registration of issuers from the SEC, application of Sarbanes-Oxley rules and the Road Maps on IFRS/GAAP convergence and audit oversight are encouraging. Some see the Dialogue at a turning point because of recent developments including:

the start of a critical process until 2009 by which the equivalence of both accounting and auditing need to be determined;

the momentum for regulatory change in the US;

the German Presidency’s “New Economic Partnership” initiative;

market developments including proposed transatlantic mergers which give impetus to transatlantic cooperation; and

the prospect of an SEC proposal for mutual recognition (based on “substituted compliance” for exchanges and broker-dealers). These developments may bring about changes in the dialogue.

Report

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