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Josef Ackermann |
Last week, experts in financial services regulation met in Frankfurt in a symposium organised by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) on Effective Regulation in the Transatlantic Market-place. The IIF is an association of 360 global financial institutions. The event was co-hosted by the Association of German Banks which represents over 220 private German commercial banks.
Speakers were from banks and regulators and included the German Ministry of Finance, the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, the New York Fed, the International Accounting Standards Board, the SEC and IOSCO. The theme of the symposium was the promotion of effective and efficient regulation in the transatlantic marketplace, and took as a base premise the IIF's Proposal for a Strategic Dialogue on Effective Regulation (December 2006). Issues addressed included coordination of enforcement actions, anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing regulations, harmonisation of reporting standards, global accounting standards, hedge funds and cross-border access to US investors.
IIF Chairman Josef Ackermann, Management board Chairman at Deutschebank commented "That more progress was needed in creating structures for financial oversight that are commensurate with the realities of global financial markets." He observed that preserving market stability was now a joint international task and that this had become more difficult against a background of international money laundering and terrorist finance. However he said that market efficiency and growth needed to be maintained and inconsistent national market regulations and barriers to cross-border business needed to be avoided. He concluded "Given these challenges, I believe greater advances towards a more coordinated approach in financial market regulation and supervision can be very beneficial. To be sure, we are not starting from scratch, and policymakers have made some promising progress at improving cooperation and coordination among national authorities."
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