The general interests of the EU and US are served by open and well-supervised global financial markets, as are the interests of issuers, investors and intermediaries. Since its launch in 2002 the informal EU-US Financial Markets Regulatory Dialogue has been successful in resolving differences in a number of areas and has become more effective in opening up markets. Recent solutions achieved in the areas of de-registration of issuers from the SEC, application of Sarbanes-Oxley rules and the Road Maps on IFRS/GAAP convergence and audit oversight are encouraging. Some see the Dialogue at a turning point because of recent developments including: the start of a critical process until 2009 by which the equivalence of both accounting and auditing need to be determined; the momentum for regulatory change in the US; the German Presidency’s “New Economic Partnership” initiative; market developments including proposed transatlantic mergers which give impetus to transatlantic cooperation; and the prospect of an SEC proposal for mutual recognition (based on “substituted compliance” for exchanges and broker-dealers). These developments may bring about changes in the dialogue.