The United States is coming to be seen as a global threat, acting unilaterally with aggressive new market rules that critics say will hurt US firms, foreign banks, and international markets in one swoop.
The new buzzword in the financial world is "extraterritoriality", or ET. The idea that a government can exercise its authority beyond its borders.
The fear is that after the 2007-2009 financial crisis that roiled global markets, some countries will engage in an arms race of tough financial reforms in order to be seen as the safest capital markets, and will haphazardly foist their own rules on other nations.
Despite its talk of a global level playing field, the United States is being portrayed as a rogue country, with its unmatched Volcker rule to curtail banks' risky trades and its accelerated timetable to put in place new derivatives reforms.
The backlash has gained force in recent weeks. International finance ministers are taking up their concerns with the US finance bosses, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
"At this time of financial market stress, I want to ensure this regulatory dialogue supports cooperation aimed at minimising any unintended consequences of regulatory reforms on either side of the Atlantic," UK Finance Minister George Osborne wrote to Bernanke late last month.
Japan and Canada also fear that unless non-US firms are exempted from the Volcker rule, trading in their own government bonds would be crimped. EU financial services chief Michel Barnier is expected to raise the Volcker rule issue with Geithner this month.
To be sure, the EU has its own unmatched aggressive reforms. They include harsh proposals for credit raters, hedge funds, and its MiFID law that would only let non-EU firms do business in the bloc on condition that their home rules are equivalent to EU rules and that they offer reciprocal market access rights.
The unprecedented volume of new rules across the world has made overlaps inevitable but unwinding them may not be easy or so fast.
"Extraterritorial stuff is causing trouble, slowing things down. Many are now waking up to the Volcker rule but it would need Congress to change legislation," said an international regulatory official, who could not speak on the record due to political sensitivities.
David Lawton, acting director of markets at the UK Financial Services Authority, said last week that it would take "years and years and years of analysis" for regulators to determine if regimes are equivalent.
US firms are also chafing at what they see as overly tough domestic derivatives proposals that do not have enough extraterritorial reach to ensure their foreign rivals don't get the upper hand.
"I would call it a competitive nightmare," said one attorney at a Wall Street bank who was not authorized to speak on the record. "In Europe, the U.S. banks are going to be on the Dodd-Frank playing field, and European banks are going to be on a very different playing field, which is much less tilted against them."
indiatimes.com
The new buzzword in the financial world is "extraterritoriality", or ET. The idea that a government can exercise its authority beyond its borders.
The fear is that after the 2007-2009 financial crisis that roiled global markets, some countries will engage in an arms race of tough financial reforms in order to be seen as the safest capital markets, and will haphazardly foist their own rules on other nations.
Despite its talk of a global level playing field, the United States is being portrayed as a rogue country, with its unmatched Volcker rule to curtail banks' risky trades and its accelerated timetable to put in place new derivatives reforms.
The backlash has gained force in recent weeks. International finance ministers are taking up their concerns with the US finance bosses, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
"At this time of financial market stress, I want to ensure this regulatory dialogue supports cooperation aimed at minimising any unintended consequences of regulatory reforms on either side of the Atlantic," UK Finance Minister George Osborne wrote to Bernanke late last month.
Japan and Canada also fear that unless non-US firms are exempted from the Volcker rule, trading in their own government bonds would be crimped. EU financial services chief Michel Barnier is expected to raise the Volcker rule issue with Geithner this month.
To be sure, the EU has its own unmatched aggressive reforms. They include harsh proposals for credit raters, hedge funds, and its MiFID law that would only let non-EU firms do business in the bloc on condition that their home rules are equivalent to EU rules and that they offer reciprocal market access rights.
The unprecedented volume of new rules across the world has made overlaps inevitable but unwinding them may not be easy or so fast.
"Extraterritorial stuff is causing trouble, slowing things down. Many are now waking up to the Volcker rule but it would need Congress to change legislation," said an international regulatory official, who could not speak on the record due to political sensitivities.
David Lawton, acting director of markets at the UK Financial Services Authority, said last week that it would take "years and years and years of analysis" for regulators to determine if regimes are equivalent.
US firms are also chafing at what they see as overly tough domestic derivatives proposals that do not have enough extraterritorial reach to ensure their foreign rivals don't get the upper hand.
"I would call it a competitive nightmare," said one attorney at a Wall Street bank who was not authorized to speak on the record. "In Europe, the U.S. banks are going to be on the Dodd-Frank playing field, and European banks are going to be on a very different playing field, which is much less tilted against them."
indiatimes.com
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