Financial cooperation: EU and UK align strategies on digital markets

This space for dialog, established after Brexit, aims to address persistent issues despite the divergence of legal frameworks. The meeting brought together representatives from the Commission’s Directorate-General for Financial Services, the UK Treasury, the European Central Bank, European supervisory authorities, the Bank of England, and the UK’s financial markets regulator.

The debates focused on the impact of artificial intelligence in the financial sector, as well as stablecoins, crypto assets, and tokenization. Participants underscored the risks related to cybersecurity and operations, while recognizing the potential of digital innovations to improve market efficiency.

Although no new common regulations were adopted at this forum, both parties agreed to maintain technical dialog and international cooperation focused on investor protection, market integrity, and the impact of innovations on financial stability. These efforts concern banks, insurers, asset managers, and intermediaries operating in both zones.

Discussions also included the review of transaction reporting and the circulation of consolidated market information, with the objective of reducing reporting burdens for companies, without announcing immediate harmonization.

Another important item on the agenda was the acceleration of securities settlement to a one-business-day timeframe (T+1), scheduled for October 11, 2027. While the European Union and the United Kingdom are progressing according to their own procedures, they agreed to maintain close coordination to facilitate the processing of cross-border transactions.

The exchanges also covered bank prudential rules, securitization, money market funds, private credit, and sustainable finance. The European Commission mentioned its work on the Capital Markets Union and its intention to present a legislative proposal relating to banks at the beginning of 2027. On the UK side, discussions focused on the extension of a transitional regime for the marketing of funds and their future access to the market, as well as sustainability information communicated to investors and transition financing. The statement from the UK Treasury confirms the continuation of exchanges before the next meeting, without indication of a new regulatory timetable.