International: Cross-border Regulatory Reform

Last Updated: June 25, 2008

Overview:
The current regulatory structure governing the financial services industry does not reflect the increasingly global nature of the financial markets and often impedes the ability of non-U.S. securities firms to provide services to U.S. investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is engaged in efforts to update the current regulatory structure including initiatives to foster a number of new approaches to cross-border regulation.

Position:
The current regulatory structure governing the financial services industry does not reflect the increasingly global nature of the financial markets and often impedes the ability of non-U.S. securities firms to provide services to U.S. investors. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is engaged in efforts to update the current regulatory structure including initiatives to foster a number of new approaches to cross-border regulation.

Status:
The SEC voted in late June to open Rule 15a-6 for comments and revision. SIFMA submitted a discussion paper to the SEC on October 18, 2007 addressing modernizing regulation of the cross-border activities of non-U.S. broker-dealers and strongly advocated updating Rule 15a-6.