International relations

• Overview
• G20
• Financial Stability Board (FSB)
• Regulatory dialogues

Overview

Global financial markets require coordinated action by national and regional regulators and supervisors.

The Commission is working to develop a consistent policy for EU financial services market, in particular by:

• taking an active part in the work of international standard setting bodies
• promoting international convergence of common standards in the regulatory and supervisory area
• developing bilateral regulatory dialogues with key partner countries.

The 2008 G20 Washington Summit confirmed that the most effective response to the global crisis was a common roadmap for financial regulatory reform, to ensure a level playing field.

Since then, the intensity of the international cooperation on financial regulation has been stepped up.

G20

The first G20 summit in 2008 developed an extensive agenda for stabilising the world economy and the financial system, with the aim of preventing future crises, mainly by improving global regulation and supervision.

Later summits agreed on a G20 work programme with a set of concrete commitments on issues including:

• higher capital requirements
• remuneration in the financial sector
• derivatives
• accounting standards
• credit rating agencies
• hedge funds
• strengthening compliance with international standards (especially in loosely regulated jurisdictions).

Leaders also committed to bringing all financial institutions, instruments and markets under appropriate regulation and supervision. The agenda is being constantly updated and new elements are being added (e.g. resolution regimes, corporate governance).

• More on G20

Financial Stability Board (FSB)

The Financial Stability Board (previously the Financial Stability Forum) oversees implementation of many of the G20 commitments.

• Member countries/bodies
• What it does

Main focus in 2010:

• developing a policy framework to address 'too big to fail' problems associated with systemically important financial institutions and cross-border resolutions
• monitoring the implementation of remuneration standards
• strengthening capital and liquidity requirements (in cooperation with the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision).
• Framework for strengthening adherence to international supervisory and regulatory standards

Other important issues:

• strengthening of accounting standards
• credit rating agencies
• alternative investment funds
• over-the-counter derivatives
• non-cooperative or under-regulated jurisdictions
• supervisory colleges
• future of securitisation.

Regulatory dialogues

The EU (European Commission, EU governments and national regulators) holds regular talks on financial regulation (and sometimes macroeconomic issues) with its key economic partners (currently the US, Japan, China, India, Russia and Brazil)

Goals of the talks:

• monitoring regulatory developments
• identifying – upstream – potential spill-over effects of legislation in each other’s jurisdictions
• seeking mutually acceptable solutions
• converging towards international standards (taking into account different legal/regulatory structures and backgrounds) and exploring possibilities of mutual recognition of standards
• coordinating the implementation of the G20 roadmap.

These talks do not of course exclude the possibility of informal bilateral discussions with other countries.

Read more:

• Note from the European Commission to the Financial Services Committee on Regulatory Dialogues (November 2009)
• EU-SEC statement on mutual recognition in securities markets (2008)
• Speech by Commissioner Michel Barnier, Washington, 11 May 2010, "Building a new financial framework together"

Related pages on this site:

• The External Dimension: Regulatory Dialogues
• Accounting convergence
• Auditing: Relations with Third Countries