On July 18, eight of the EU member states (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, and The Netherlands) published a joint statement on the Capital Markets Union (CMU) after Brexit. The joint statement sets out the shared views of the member states’ finance ministers and urges the European Union to use Brexit as a catalyst in the further development and integration of EU capital markets.

According to the joint statement, the following are priorities in the development of the CMU:

  1. setting an ambitious target and prioritizing resources to attain the greatest impact, including carrying out a review of investments firms to implement “more proportionate regulatory regime for investment firms,” a proposed framework for covered bonds and proposals surrounding sustainable investments;
  2. fostering technology-enabled innovation in financial services;
  3. an effective supervisory framework—the joint statement emphasizes that the review of the European supervisory authorities (ESA) should be ultimately focused on supervisory convergence across the European Union, but that progress towards the CMU should be independent of the ESA review; and
  4. national reforms which develop local capital markets (e.g., by diversifying financing options).

The joint statement is available here.