SEC Releases More Detail On Mutual Recognition Roundtable

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

12 June 2007

The US Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday announced the final agenda and participants for the upcoming roundtable on mutual recognition scheduled to take place today.

Selective mutual recognition would involve the SEC permitting certain types of foreign financial intermediaries to provide services to US investors under an abbreviated registration system, provided those entities are supervised in a foreign jurisdiction under a securities regulatory regime substantially comparable (but not necessarily identical) to that in the United States.

The roundtable will examine how retail and institutional investors, US and non-US exchanges, global and regional broker-dealers, and others may be impacted by a selective mutual recognition regulatory regime. In addition, a separate panel will consider the issue of how the SEC can best assess regulatory comparability and convergence.

Speaking late last month, when the roundtable was first announced, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox explained that:

"Innovations in technology have eliminated many barriers to cross-border access between US and foreign markets. Consequently, it is imperative that the Commission consider the implications of increased US investor demand for foreign investment opportunities."

"At the same time, we are seeing the international coalescence of a group of securities regulators who share many of the same concerns about investor protection and market efficiency that we at the SEC have — a development that I believe could greatly improve investor protection world-wide."

"This roundtable should assist the Commission in developing an appropriate regulatory response to the changing nature of the global market, in a way that allows the SEC to strengthen its investor protection mandate."

The roundtable will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET, with opening remarks by Chairman Cox.

The agenda includes discussions on:

• The Impact on US Market Participants of Increased Foreign Market Access;
• The Impact on US Market Participants of Increased Foreign Broker-Dealer Access to US Investors; and
• Defining and Measuring the Comparability of Regulatory Regimes.

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