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Finance

Bilateral relations

The EU holds regular talks on financial regulation with its key economic partners. Convergence with EU rules on financial services and capital movements is also part of membership negotiations with candidate countries.

Regulatory dialogues and high level meetings on financial services regulation

The European Commission and EU governments hold regular talks on financial regulation with the USA and other international partners. The goals of these talks are

  • monitoring regulatory developments
  • identifying potential spill-over effects of legislation in each other’s jurisdictions
  • converging towards international standards – taking into account the specific features of different regulatory frameworks and legal backgrounds
  • exploring possibilities of mutual recognition of standards
  • coordinating the implementation of the G20 roadmap

More information on the different regulatory dialogues and high level meetings on financial services regulation

Bilateral relations on insurance

Bilateral dialogues on capital movements

In its bilateral relations, the EU uses investment dialogues and trade agreements to promote open investments and free capital movements.

Investment dialogues allow both sides to raise concerns about investment conditions in the other country and seek solutions to promote mutually beneficial investment flows.

The EU has also negotiated and continues to negotiate several bilateral trade agreements. These agreements usually cover capital movements and payments, with provisions ensuring that

  • payment operations remain unrestricted
  • transactions related to direct investment remain unrestricted
  • temporary safeguard measures are only possible in the case of serious difficulties for the operation of monetary and exchange rate policy

Read more on the dedicated site of the European Commission.

Negotiations with EU candidate countries

Countries looking to join the EU have to demonstrate that they will be able to comply with all the EU standards and rules.

During the negotiations for a country to join the EU, the European Commission analyses each policy area in detail to determine how well the country is prepared to implement the body of EU law. This analysis covers both financial services and free movement of capital.

  • the EU law for financial services that needs to be implemented in candidate countries includes rules for the authorisation, operation and supervision of financial institutions in the area of banking, insurance, occupational pensions, investment services and securities markets
  • concerning capital movements, candidate countries must adapt their laws and institutions to guarantee the freedom of all categories of capital transactions, as listed in Annex I of Directive 88/361/EEC. EU rules in the area of capital movements are based on the Treaty on the functioning of the EU, in particular articles 63-66, and are directly applicable

Read more on the enlargement website.