Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary L. Schapiro today met separately in London with chairman Adair Turner of the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Chief Executive of the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) Stephen Haddrill to discuss a number of issues of common concern.
During the SEC-FSA meeting, the agencies shared views regarding the oversight of over-the-counter derivatives trading, high-frequency trading, and the May 6 "flash crash" as well as recent regulatory initiatives regarding credit rating agencies and cross-border enforcement information-sharing between the FSA and SEC.
Chairman Schapiro and Lord Turner also restated their agencies’ commitment to working together to improve regulation and oversight of their securities markets, particularly with regard to globally active regulated firms with a presence in both countries.
Chairman Schapiro said, "Both the SEC and FSA are in the process of drafting vital new rules for our own markets. Meetings like this with our UK counterparts at the highest levels give the Commission a better understanding of how similar market concerns are viewed in London. Given the international nature of the recent financial crisis, this exchange of views can only improve the regulatory solutions we develop to these challenging problems."
Lord Turner said, "As regulators, we all now face issues that cross borders and require international coordination. It is important that we are able to find common ground in approaching these issues and this continuing dialogue with the SEC forms a key part of this process."
The SEC and FSA have long had a close relationship, with the SEC and the FSA’s predecessor agency first signing enforcement information-sharing arrangements in 1986.
More recently, the SEC and FSA concluded a supervisory information-sharing memorandum of understanding in 2006, in which the two regulators laid out how they would share information relating to the financial health and regulatory compliance of regulated entities operating in both countries.
During their meeting, Chairman Schapiro and FRC Chief Executive Haddrill discussed a variety of matters relating to regulatory reform efforts in the United States and Europe. They also covered topics of joint interest such as the oversight of audit firms providing services across borders into the UK and U.S., reform of rules governing issuer disclosure and investor access to corporate proxies.
