SIFMA Submits Comment Letters Regarding the Proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ("TTIP")

SIFMA submitted the attached comment letters to the National Security Council ("NSC") and U.S. Trade Representative in support of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership ("TTIP").

In the first letter, SIFMA and nine other associations declared to the National Security Council their support of the TTIP. For the financial services sector, the groups stressed that the TTIP should include conventional market access rules, as well as mechanisms and processes to achieve sound, efficient, compatible, and cost-effective regulatory frameworks that facilitate access to capital and boost economic growth. There is common agreement among regulators, trade negotiators, and industry about the inclusion of traditional financial services trade and investment provisions in the TTIP. However, it concerns the group that U.S. authorities appear to be reluctant to embrace the regulatory cooperation elements of the TTIP for financial services, despite the fact that they will likely be extended to virtually every other sector of the economy.

In the second letter, SIFMA commented to the U.S. Trade Representative ("USTR") that it supports efforts to negotiate a comprehensive TTIP that will include conventional market access rules and a mechanism to ensure an efficient, cost-effective and compatible regulatory framework. SIFMA offers a proposed framework for enhancing financial regulatory cooperation that would facilitate and guide efforts to promote consistent high-quality regulatory standards in the transatlantic markets. In addition, SIFMA requested to testify at the USTR's upcoming two-day hearing on U.S. interests and priorities in order to develop positions in the TTIP negotiations with the EU.

See also: SIFMA Statement on House Ways and Means Subcommittee Hearing on U.S.-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership.