A joint U.S.-EU committee, known as the Transatlantic Economic Council, calls for greater integration between the two economic powerhouses, including their respective securities markets.

The TEC, comprised of U.S. Cabinet Members and European Commissioners, first met in November 2007 in Washington, DC. It held its second meeting in Brussels this week, after which it issued a statement detailing the progress towards a more integrated transatlantic regulatory environment in a number of areas.

Among other things, it said: work on mutual recognition in securities regulation has intensified, and the EU and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will define a process for carrying out comparability assessments of their regulatory regimes later this year; it also encourages the implementation of other approaches to facilitate cross-border financial services, such as providing relief from local licensing requirements for securities firms engaging in cross-border business with certain sophisticated investors.

It also said that the European Commission will propose a positive decision on the equivalence of U.S. accounting standards to EU rules in 2008; and, it urged financial markets regulators to identify the steps that need to be taken to create a true level playing-field for EU and U.S. insurance companies in each other’s jurisdiction by the end of the year.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association welcomed the statement, and said it continues to advocate ongoing efforts to increase cross-border cooperation. SIFMA is also very supportive of the shared EU-U.S. goal to promote higher standards of living by reducing barriers to international trade and investment.

“The TEC statement is a welcomed confirmation of strong EU-US political will to proceed with transatlantic securities market integration. We continue to urge the European Commission and the SEC to take tangible action in the coming months to update regulatory structures that suit the global nature of the financial marketplace,” said Bertrand Huet, managing director and SIFMA’s European Legal and Regulatory Counsel.

“We support the longer term goal of mutual recognition. However, there are immediate steps that both the US and the EC can take that would have a positive and immediate effect on international capital flows,” added David Strongin, managing director of SIFMA. He called on the SEC to reform its rules to relieve securities firms from local licensing requirements for cross-border business with sophisticated investors.