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9/10/2024

Joint Statement on the U.S.-UK Financial Regulatory Working Group | U.S. Department of the Treasury

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Joint Statement on the U.S.-UK Financial Regulatory Working
Group
September 10, 2024

WASHINGTON - The tenth o icial meeting of the U.S.-UK Financial Regulatory Working Group
(Working Group) took place in Washington, D.C., on September 3, 2024.
O icials and senior sta from HM Treasury and the U.S. Department of the Treasury were
joined by representatives from independent regulatory agencies, including the Bank of
England, Financial Conduct Authority, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,
Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, O ice of the
Comptroller of the Currency, and Securities and Exchange Commission. Participation varied
across themes, with participants expressing views on issues in their organizationsʼ respective
areas of responsibility.
The Working Group meeting emphasized close ongoing UK and U.S. cooperation in a number
of areas and focused on several key themes, including: 1) the economic and financial stability
outlook, 2) banking issues, 3) digital finance and operational resilience, 4) sustainable finance
and climate-related financial risk, 5) capital markets, and 6) developments in the non-bank
sector.
The meeting opened with a broad discussion of the UK and U.S. economic and financial
stability outlooks, with participants taking stock of current economic trends and market
conditions and considering broader global factors. UK Treasury outlined the UK governmentʼs
core mission to deliver sustainable economic growth and the work to provide stability and
certainty to the financial services sector in order to support growth in the wider economy.
On banking issues, participants o ered an overview of developments in their domestic
banking systems and banking regulation, including resolution-related developments and
proposed Basel III-based revisions to capital requirements. The UK outlined the findings from
the Bank of Englandʼs second assessment of the resolvability of the eight major UK banks,
and the legislative progress in the Bank Resolution Bill. Participants noted the importance of
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Joint Statement on the U.S.-UK Financial Regulatory Working Group | U.S. Department of the Treasury

ongoing dialogue among international partners when implementing these initiatives and
reforms.
The Working Group exchanged views about sustainable finance and climate-related risk in line
with their respective mandates. Representatives provided updates on climate-related
disclosures for investors, including the UKʼs approach in light of the International
Organization of Securities Commissionsʼ recent endorsement of the International
Sustainability Standards Boardʼs disclosure standards. Relevant participants discussed
transition plan practices and noted the recent announcement of the IFRS Foundation to
assume responsibility for the disclosure-specific materials published by the UK Transition Plan
Taskforce, with a view to developing educational materials and considering updated
application guidance. UK authorities discussed the industry code of conduct for
environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings and data providers and the Transition
Finance Market review. Participants also discussed rules on sustainability disclosure
requirements for financial products, including fund names and anti-greenwashing rules, noting
international initiatives on these topics. UK authorities outlined their ongoing work to embed
the supervision of climate-related financial risks and update existing supervisory expectations
on climate risk management to more closely align with international regulatory guidelines.
The parties exchanged views on the progress of work in multilateral fora, including in the G20
Sustainable Finance Working Group and the Financial Stability Board (FSB).
Participants discussed issues related to digital finance and operational resilience.
Representatives exchanged views on their respective approaches to artificial intelligence (AI)
and both current and future AI use cases within financial services. U.S. and UK authorities
discussed ways to work together, including as appropriate through international bodies, to
leverage the potential benefits and address the risks of AI in financial services. Participants
discussed recent developments in the financial sectorʼs use of tokenization, highlighting the
role tokenization and other related developments may play in the international capital
markets and payments landscape. Participants also reiterated the importance of e ective
regulation to address risks and continued bilateral and international engagement within the
sector and among authorities. The Working Group also discussed work underway to enhance
cross-border payments, including under the G20 Cross-Border Payments Roadmap, which
notes that greater regulatory alignment is key to the successful implementation of the
Roadmap, and at the G7. Participants shared recent developments in their respective work on
payments modernisation.

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On operational resilience, participants noted ongoing international cooperation and shared
regulatory updates. Participants continued discussions on regulation of critical third parties
to the financial sector and about increasing bilateral cooperation on this topic. The Working
Group also discussed ongoing work to promote responsible innovation and comprehensive
supervision and regulation in the areas of digital finance and operational resilience, including
through the bilateral Financial Innovation Partnership.
Participants conferred on capital markets regulation. Following the shi to the shorter T+1
settlement cycle in May, U.S. participants shared observations on the transition. UK
authorities provided an update on the progress the UK is making towards T+1 through its
Technical Group of industry experts. UK Treasury set out the UK governmentʼs ambition to
reinvigorate capital markets to drive investment and innovation in the economy. UK
regulators updated participants on recently implemented changes to the UK Listing Rules.
The Working Group continued with a discussion of developments in non-bank financial
intermediation (NBFI) and the importance of fostering resilience in the NBFI sector.
Participants discussed their respective domestic agendas, including on money market funds
and open-ended funds. Noting the cross-border nature of NBFI, participants discussed their
continued international engagement on the topic, and specifically on the FSBʼs work, to
address vulnerabilities arising from leverage in the NBFI sector and work to improve market
participantsʼ preparedness to meet margin calls. Participants acknowledged the importance
of continuing the implementation of NBFI reforms at the domestic level.
At the conclusion of the event, the Working Group agreed to reconvene in May 2025, while
noting the importance of continued open dialogue on shared priorities.
The U.S.-UK Financial Regulatory Working Group is an ongoing biannual dialogue established
in 2018 to deepen bilateral regulatory cooperation and to enhance: financial stability; investor
protection; fair, orderly, and e icient markets; and capital formation across both jurisdictions.
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