The U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority said Thursday that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with France’s Autorité des marchés financiers.

The regulators said that the memorandum establishes a formal basis for co-operation among FINRA and the AMF “in order to more effectively conduct their oversight of regulated markets and financial firms.”

Its two main goals are to: organize the transmission of information between authorities regarding market surveillance and investigations into market abuse; and, facilitate the sharing of information on trading by firms coming within the two authorities’ respective jurisdictions. The agreement will also allow the AMF and FINRA to keep each other informed about practices in their markets and about issues concerning financial markets in general.

“We are very pleased to sign this memorandum of understanding with the AMF,” says FINRA CEO, Richard Ketchum. “Both FINRA and the AMF share significant common ground in our mission to protect investors and ensure the integrity of capital markets. In today’s global environment, international regulatory cooperation is more important than ever. We look forward to a long and productive partnership with the AMF.”

IE