The EU-UK Financial Regulatory Forum met this past week in London. The entity aims to pursue regulatory cooperation while preserving financial stability and protecting participants.
The event was co-chaired by HM Treasury, and the Director General for Financial Services and the European Commission Director General for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union (DG FISMA).
According to the write up on the meeting, the two sides touched upon key Fintech topics including AI and digital assets.
Regarding AI and financial services, “the UK and the EU agreed to continue working together and with the wider international community to develop a common understanding of its benefits and risks, particularly in relation to the rapid innovation of financial services, to financial stability, and to public trust and safety.”
As for crypto, the two sides “welcomed the progress being made to develop and implement cryptoassets regulation that will address financial systemic risk, noting the need to facilitate innovation and provide regulatory certainty. The EU noted that the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) entered into full application as of 30 December 2024. The UK explained its plans to bring forward legislation to create the UK regime. The EU and the UK underlined the importance of global implementation of the agreed Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) regulatory framework for crypto-asset markets and activities and global stablecoin arrangements.”
Other areas regarding financial services were reviewed.
Globally, the EU is an early enabler of crypto under MiCA and they are working on rules for digital securities. The UK is heading down a similar path.
The United States is lagging in creating bespoke rules but this will problem change during the Trump administration.