Jonathan Faull on Transatlantic Approach to Financial Reform

On October 9, the Atlantic Council hosted Jonathan Faull, director-general of Internal Market and Services at the European Commission, to discuss recent European financial regulatory reforms, EU bank re-capitalization efforts, and the future of the transatlantic economic partnership broadly. The discussion was moderated by C. Boyden Gray Fellow Dr. Chris Brummer, and touched on issues ranging from the dangers of transatlantic financial divergence to why the inclusion of financial services in the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) is vital for the future of US-EU regulatory cooperation. As Faull emphasized, “I do hope that the United States will realize that this is an opportunity to engage with the European Union that will not come around again soon.”

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Mr. Faull particularly underlined the need for swift completion of the EU’s banking union, and assured the audience that the banking union would be finished by the end of this European Commission, or by mid-2014. He also called for better cooperation between the large EU member-states to resolve their political differences with regards to banking supervision. Faull additionally made clear that Europe’s reform efforts will finally address the crucial issue of resolving “too big to fail” financial institutions. Finally, Faull called on US lawmakers to recognize that it is in the mutual interest of the transatlantic economies to agree on a forum to regulatory cooperate and design financial regulatory issues together.

Mr. Faull particularly underlined the need for swift completion of the EU’s banking union, and assured the audience that the banking union would be finished by the end of this European Commission, or by mid-2014. He also called for better cooperation between the large EU member-states to resolve their political differences with regards to banking supervision. Faull additionally made clear that Europe’s reform efforts will finally address the crucial issue of resolving “too big to fail” financial institutions. Finally, Faull called on US lawmakers to recognize that it is in the mutual interest of the transatlantic economies to agree on a forum to regulatory cooperate and design financial regulatory issues together.

Importantly, including financial services oversight in TTIP is absolutely not an effort to reduce the necessary protections brought on by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. “No one wants to water down Dodd-Frank,” Faull said, however, in order to implement and apply the necessary next step of rules properly, a more coordinated and cooperative approach for the transatlantic community should be set in place swiftly to ensure the safety of the markets in years to come. “We have to ensure that slightly different rules work together as seamlessly as possible,” said Faull. Faull’s remarks reiterate the discourse and momentum surrounding the regulatory debate going on in Washington and Brussels at the moment, thus echoing calls from experts for policymakers to take a more expeditious approach to a better integrated, safer, and more robust transatlantic financial market.

Related Experts: Chris Brummer