- Farrell: What's Different On This Black Friday
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Schork Oil Outlook: Gas Bulls Pinning Hopes on Mother Nature
- Busch: The Debt-Interest Rate Paradox
- Busch: Markets Smell a Country Rat
- Schork Oil Outlook: Mission Impossible For The Bears?
- Losey: Asset Allocation At Retirement
- Farrell: Obama Hectored, Ignored and Restricted?
- Don't Dwell on Investment Mistakes; Move on, Like Buffett
- Hirschhorn: Greed...or Fear
MOST SHARED
- Tiger Woods Out of Hospital After Accident
- The Good Entrepreneur Winner
- Gold Will Collapse Like Oil Did in 2008: Charts
- Abu Dhabi Will Aid Debt-Fraught Dubai 'Case by Case'
- Next Week: Cash In Now Or Wait For A Santa Rally?
- Halftime Report: Dubai - First Ripple Of Larger Crisis?
- CNBC VIDEO: Warren Buffett & Bill Gates 'Walk & Talk' at Columbia University
- U.S. Stocks Fall on Dubai Worries
- Black Friday at Best Buy
- Strategists on Dubai: Avoid 'Rash Moves' Now
- Longer Lines, Fuller Carts This Black Friday
- Dubai Stock Market Fear Has 'Legs': Dennis Gartman
- Obama's Emission Reduction Pledge Paints Future for Autos
- Is Super Bowl Halftime Act Too Old?
- Surprising Options Trades in TiVo Shares
- EA Sports Hopes to Pump Up Sales Through Pop-Up Locations
- Abu Dhabi Will Aid Debt-Fraught Dubai 'Case by Case'
- Banks With The Biggest Exposure to The UAE
- Dubai's Debt Woes Signal New Era for Creditors
- Next Week: Cash In Now Or Wait For A Santa Rally?
- Dubai Stock Selloff May Bring Buying Opportunity
- Longer Lines, Fuller Carts This Black Friday
- Big US Banks May Be Forced to Raise Capital: Bove
- Bank of America Amends Pay for Senior Executives
- Tiger Woods Out of Hospital After Accident
RSS FEED
CNBC Guest Blog
Text Size 
Tony Fratto
Former White House Spokesman
First, in early June Europeans will vote to elect members of the European Parliament, and having a record of slaying financial dragons helps on the campaign trail. The election calendar makes getting something - anything - done before June an imperative.
Second - as seen at the recent G-20 Summit - European officials are consumed by the view that the financial crisis is American born and bred, and they are loathe to wait for American solutions.
Where in the past Europe would have sought better coordination with U.S. regulators, today they are intent to take the wheel and drive regulatory reform.
European banking and regulatory officials are well aware of the potential headaches caused by mismatched policies on two sides of the Atlantic. After all, it wasn't long ago that European firms were left to deal with an American fait accompli in the form of Sarbanes-Oxley Act reforms of public company accounting standards.
An additional reason coordination has lagged because of the U.S. Political transition. Officials in Brussels have been waiting to see whether the Obama Administration will continue Bush Administration trans-Atlantic initiatives to streamline regulation and resolve disputes - and for U.S. officials to get in place to implement them.
Officials on both sides of the Atlantic hope the regulatory differences can be bridged over time, but by blazing the trail first and with hardened emotions, Europe is attempting to put itself in a stronger position.
Reform efforts always tend to realign competitive advantages - that's their nature. Uncoordinated policies and the European approach are posing significant risks for U.S. financial firms, and since major reforms tend to only occur in the light of crisis, those policies could be with us for a long time.
While regulatory reform legislation in the U.S. will appropriately take time, now is the time to engage Europe and bring shared goals of preventing the next crisis into alignment.
_________________________
Tony Fratto
Former White House Spokesman
Tony Fratto is a CNBC on-air contributor and most recently served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Press Secretary for the Bush Administration.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes