CESR And SEC Join Forces To Improve Financial Market Supervision

by Ulrika Lomas, for LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

09 June 2004

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) announced on Friday that they have reached an agreement designed to increase cooperation between the two sides with regard to the further development of financial market supervision.

Speaking to reporters, chairman of the CESR, Arthur Docters van Leeuwen revealed that the accord has been developed with the intention of initiating a "permanent dialogue" between the United States and the EU on the regulation of securities markets.

Although the CESR boss failed to outline the short-term goals of the accord, he did reveal that the regulatory organizations plan to "jointly look into the practices of hedge funds here and in the US," explaining that:

"We need to map what's going on at those funds and how they work, and make clear what needs more attention and what not."

Meanwhile, commenting on the cases of corporate fraud which have rocked the confidence of investors recently, SEC commissioner, Roel Campos observed that:

"One of the lessons we learned in the last few years is that we need to have processes in place before things go wrong, rather than act in reaction to such events. We hope this collaboration will achieve that."

Recommended