In April, Commissioner Mairead McGuinness travelled to the United States. The trip included visits to both Boston and Washington DC, providing the Commissioner with an opportunity to meet a wide range of US interlocutors, including regulators, think tanks, civil society and the financial sector. Commissioner McGuinness discussed a number of key issues during her visit, including banking, sanctions and digital finance.

Banking

During her visit, Commissioner McGuinness noted that the Commission has closely followed recent developments in the banking sector. She acknowledged the swift intervention by authorities in the US and the actions by Swiss authorities to maintain financial stability.

EU supervisors remained in contact with their partners in the US and Switzerland throughout. While the direct impact on the EU appears limited, the review being conducted by the US Federal Reserve will help to show what lessons can be learned on all sides from events over the past number of weeks.

Sanctions

Commissioner McGuinness highlighted the common work by the EU and US on sanctions imposed against Russia as a result of its invasion of Ukraine. Both sides are working together to hold Russia to account for its actions, and their measures are closely aligned with each other and with international partners.

The Commissioner held a joint meeting alongside Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo and UK Treasury Director General Lindsey Whyte with representatives from financial institutions. It was a chance to talk to the private sector on joint efforts to counter sanctions evasion and combat Russian military procurement. The EU has imposed ten packages of sanctions, with the focus now geared towards ensuring the consistent implementation of these measures across Member States. While the sanctions have hurt the Russian economy and impacted its ability to wage war, work must continue on ensuring sanctions are fully implemented to have their full effect.

The EU and US are committed to avoiding the circumvention of sanctions and are partnering in the fight against it. The Commissioner underlined the EU’s willingness to continue to engage with the US in the coordination of sanctions to ensure maximum coherence.

Digital finance

Another key topic during Commissioner McGuinness’ visit to the US was digital finance. In this increasingly digital world, the Commissioner stressed the importance of ensuring consumer protection and trust on both sides of the Atlantic.

The EU has paved the way for the regulation of crypto-assets, for example. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) provides a solid legal framework in the EU for crypto-assets and crypto-asset service providers. Building on similar discussions in her previous visit to the US last October, the Commissioner highlighted the importance of global coordination and joint international principles for rules to be fully effective and to avoid fragmentation.

The Commissioner also had the opportunity to discuss ongoing work in the EU and the US on Central Bank Digital Currencies. The Commission will put forward a legislative proposal on a possible digital euro in the coming months. The idea of the digital euro would be to provide a public money alternative to private means of payment, and to act as a complement to cash. The US is also considering a potential digital dollar. The Commissioner talked about the EU’s plans around a possible digital euro and heard from her US counterparts on their considerations around a digital dollar.