Levelling the playing field or: How I learned to stop worrying about market fragmentation and love global regulatory cooperation
Speech by Ms Carolyn Rogers, Secretary General of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, at the ASIFMA virtual event: "Best foot forward: managing regulation-driven market fragmentation in Asia", 25 February 2021.
Introduction
The topic of cross-border market fragmentation – which, for the purpose of my remarks today, I define somewhat narrowly as divergences in bank prudential regulation along geographical lines – has received much attention over the past few years. In 2018, G20 Leaders stressed that "an open and resilient financial system, grounded in agreed international standards, is crucial to support sustainable growth" and that they would "address fragmentation" through "continued regulatory and supervisory cooperation". To that end, the global standard-setting bodies and the Financial Stability Board (FSB) explored issues around market fragmentation the subsequent year, the findings of which were published in a report. Covid-19 has further brought to the fore issues related to market fragmentation as jurisdictions pursued regulatory and supervisory measures to mitigate domestic financial stability risks.