Washington, D.C., February 7, 2020 – SIFMA today released the following statement from Kenneth E. Bentsen, Jr., SIFMA president and CEO, regarding the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Brent McIntosh’s speech on data connectivity Wednesday in Singapore.

“SIFMA congratulates Under Secretary McIntosh on an excellent speech. Cross-border data flows are crucial to the financial services industry and the capital formation and job creation they underpin. As such, building on the important milestones USMCA laid, we strongly endorse the Under Secretary’s prioritization of data connectivity. We warmly welcome both the establishment of the technical experts group on cross-border data issues in financial services, as part of the 2020 U.S. Presidency of the G7, and the U.S.-Singapore Joint Statement on Financial Services Data Connectivity. We look forward to continuing our work with Treasury on this issue, one of crucial importance.”

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SIFMA is the leading trade association for broker-dealers, investment banks and asset managers operating in the U.S. and global capital markets. On behalf of our industry’s nearly 1 million employees, we advocate for legislation, regulation and business policy, affecting retail and institutional investors, equity and fixed income markets and related products and services. We serve as an industry coordinating body to promote fair and orderly markets, informed regulatory compliance, and efficient market operations and resiliency. We also provide a forum for industry policy and professional development. SIFMA, with offices in New York and Washington, D.C., is the U.S. regional member of the Global Financial Markets Association (GFMA). For more information, visit http://www.sifma.org.