The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Thursday that they will hold joint meetings to seek input on harmonizing market regulation.

Earlier this year, the Obama Administration released a white paper on regulatory reform that, among other things, calls on the SEC and CFTC to make recommendations to Congress on ways to harmonize the regulation of futures and securities. It seeks a report on the subject by the end of September.

The regulators said that they would hold two meeting in early September to solicit public input on the subject. The first meeting, on Sept. 2, will be held at the CFTC. The following day a meeting will be held at the SEC.

“These joint meetings will build on the progress the CFTC and SEC have made on designing a framework to regulate OTC derivatives. It will move us further down the road of harmonizing our regulations to increase transparency, reduce regulatory arbitrage and rebuild confidence in our markets,” said SEC chairman Mary Schapiro.

“I look forward to working with chairman Schapiro and hearing from market experts and participants on how to most effectively harmonize our regulatory systems,” said CFTC chairman Gary Gensler. “Harmonizing our regulatory policies will improve market integrity by applying consistent standards to market participants. There are three areas where this review will most benefit the American public: to address gaps between the two agencies’ financial regulatory authorities, to assess the effects of regulatory overlap and to bring appropriate consistency to the two agencies’ regulation over similar products, practices and markets.”

IE