In Washington D.C. on Thursday 20 April, where he was attending the spring summits of international financial organisations, EU Financial Services Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis stressed the importance for trade and financial stability of close, rules-based transatlantic relations.
‘Laws change, governments change, the context changes... but it is important that the principles and trust binding us remain the same,’ said the Commissioner during a speech at a conference organised by the American Enterprise Institute. Pointing out the path followed by the G20 since the 2008 financial crisis, he said the absence of cooperation entailed a risk of regulatory bargaining and renewed instability.
As an example, he cited the political imperative of ensuring fiscal equity; - how it is impossible for a jurisdiction alone to cover the markets for financial derivatives, which are able to make use of the least regulatory shortcoming extremely quickly; - the importance of the Basel prudential framework for monitoring big banks and allowing them to evolve on either side of the Atlantic; - and the need for Europe and the United States to have credible tools for managing banking crises.
On the latter point, Dombrovskis said Europe was closely monitoring any reform in US legislation on the resolution of big financial institutions and hoped the need for effective cooperation would be taken into account in the discussions.
The Commissioner raised the question of re-orienting the planned Union of Capital Markets in the light of the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU, saying Europe wanted to be more ambitious in domains such as Fintech and ‘sustainable’ finance and would be unveiling new rules on a pan-European private pensions system.
US support sought for Greek bailout
Briefly raising the current negotiations between Athens and its institutional lenders to finalise the second monitoring mission for the third Greek bailout (see EUROPE 11764), Dombrovskis hoped the United States would be able to provide ‘decisive support’ when the IMF decides on its financial participation in the programme.
The Greek question will be addressed on the fringes of the spring summits of the IMF and World Bank, where a decision is expected on rapid return to Athens by Greece’s lenders’ heads of mission in order to conclude the package of measures the Greek government will be applying post-2018 to respect the budget trajectory that will be set once Greece exits the bailout plan. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)