SEC, Fed Agree to Share Info, Data

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox and Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Chairman Ben Bernanke signed "a memorandum of understanding" (MOU) intended to "deepen their information sharing and cooperation" while "permitting both agencies to better perform their responsibilities," the SEC said in a statement.

Under the MOU, the Fed and SEC agreed to share information and cooperate in areas of common interest including anti-money laundering, bank brokerage activities under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, clearance and settlement in the banking and securities industries, and the regulation of transfer agents.

The MOU specifically covers bank holding companies and so-called Consolidated Supervised Entities that own securities firms. It builds on and formalizes the long-standing cooperative arrangements between the SEC and the Fed, as well as the more recent cooperation on matters including banking and investment banking capital and liquidity following the Fed’s emergency opening of credit facilities to primary dealers.

“I am pleased with this agreement,” Bernanke said in a statement. “It formalizes and strengthens the ongoing cooperation between our two agencies to enhance the stability of the financial system.”

The SEC recently entered into a similar MOU with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. An agreement between the SEC and the Department of Labor is anticipated later this summer.