§ 107. Mr. CarringtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action international regulators are taking to tackle the challenges of a global financial market.
§ Mr. RedwoodThere are many current instances of international action to tackle the challenges of a global financial market. Examples include existing and proposed European Community ligislation on banking, insider dealing, insurance, investment services and capital requirements; bilaterial agreements on exchange of enforcement information.
The Department of Trade and Industry is joint signatory with SIB of memoranda of understanding with the United States and Japanese authorities; there are agreements between SIB and its counterparts in 37 countries.
612WThere is worldwide recognition that these arrangements need to be developed in order to facilitate cross-border trade in financial services while protecting investors from risk.
International discussion takes place through formal and informal contacts on a bilaterial basis and in multilateral fora, such as IOSCO—the International Organisation for Securities Commissions.
One of the most recent initiatives was the first trilateral meeting of United Kingdom, United States and Japanese regulatory authorities which I attended at Airlie in Virginia on 18 and 19 September. This resulted in the Airlie house declaration which affirmed continuing close co-operation between the authorities in the three major, world financial markets. A copy of this is in the Library.