The 12th official meeting of the U.S.-UK Financial Regulatory Working Group (Working Group) was hosted by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Washington, DC on February 25, 2026.
Senior officials from the U.S. Treasury and His Majesty’s (HM) Treasury were joined by representatives from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Securities and Exchange Commission, Bank of England, and Financial Conduct Authority. Participation varied across themes, with participants expressing views on issues in their organizations’ respective areas of responsibility.
The Working Group emphasized close, ongoing U.S. and UK cooperation and focused on several key themes, including: 1) the economic and financial stability outlook, 2) the Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future (TTMF), 3) digital finance and innovation, and 4) regulatory modernization and developments.
The meeting opened with a broad discussion of the U.S. and UK economic and financial stability outlooks, with participants taking stock of current economic trends and market conditions. Both U.S. Treasury and HM Treasury emphasized facilitating economic growth and cross-border activity, while also modernizing regulation and protecting financial stability.
Participants received a progress report on the work of the TTMF, including a readout of a joint industry roundtable hosted in Washington, DC the prior day. During this TTMF engagement, U.S. Treasury hosted representatives from HM Treasury, and U.S. and UK regulatory agencies, for a second round of industry engagement exploring opportunities to improve links between our capital markets and to collaborate on digital assets. The TTMF aims to report back to both Treasuries with recommendations via the Working Group in summer 2026.
Participants discussed issues related to digital finance and innovation, noting broad support for promoting the use and growth of digital assets and digital financial innovation globally. Authorities discussed their respective priorities for digital assets and provided updates on the progress of regulation in both jurisdictions, including to support the adoption of stablecoins for payments. UK participants also provided an update about their Digital Securities Sandbox, and the Working Group discussed potential opportunities to support cross-border innovation. Participants emphasized the importance of continued bilateral engagement on digital assets developments in their respective jurisdictions. Participants also shared recent developments in their respective work on payments modernization.
Representatives exchanged views on their respective approaches to artificial intelligence (AI) and both current and future uses of AI in financial services. U.S. and UK authorities discussed ways to work together, to realize the potential of this technology and mitigate the potential risks of AI in financial services.
The Working Group discussed approaches to cybersecurity and operational resilience for supervised institutions and their use of critical third parties, including opportunities for authorities’ further engagement. Participants continued discussions about the importance of working with industry to improve the resilience of the financial sector.
The Working Group continued with a discussion of developments in non-bank financial intermediation (NBFI), with participants providing updates on their respective domestic agendas and support for continued international engagement on this topic. Participants also offered an overview of developments in their domestic banking systems and banking regulation.
Participants conferred on the investment environment, including capital markets regulation. HM Treasury set out the UK government’s program of reforms to reinvigorate capital markets, including its commitment to move to a T+1 settlement cycle in October 2027.
The Working Group plans to formally reconvene in summer 2026 to continue its ongoing biannual dialogue, first established in 2018 to deepen bilateral regulatory cooperation between the UK and the U.S. and to enhance robust economic growth; financial stability; investor protection; fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and capital formation across both jurisdictions.