U.S. eyes easing restrictions on foreign brokers

By Huw Jones

BRUSSELS, May 13 (Reuters) - The United States is expected to make it easier for big investors to tap foreign securities markets directly and cut costs, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.

The Transatlantic Economic Council, made up of top U.S. and European Union politicians and officials, agreed to work on mutual recognition of securities regulation as a transatlantic financial market grows due to mergers.

"The TEC also encourages the implementation of other approaches to facilitate cross-border financial services, such as providing relief from local licensing requirements for securities firms engaging in cross-border business with certain sophisticated investors," the meeting concluded.

Transatlantic market integration has accelerated with the New York Stock Exchange's (NYX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) takeover of EU bourse Euronext, and the U.S. Nasdaq (NDAQ.O: Quote, Profile, Research) exchange's snapping up of Scandinavian exchange OMX.

U.S. institutional investors are increasingly looking to foreign capital markets to diversify their portfolios but have had to do this via U.S. intermediaries rather than being able to have direct access to brokers based outside the United States.

Having direct access to foreign markets would cut costs.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began making access to foreign broker dealers easier in 1989 when it adopted Rule 15a-6, which exempts them from some requirements, but the regulatory burden is still heavy.

Daniel Price, a member of President George W. Bush's administration who headed the U.S. TEC delegation, said 15a-6 could be modified.