UK and US to smooth capital markets access and crypto cooperation

LONDON (Reuters) -The governments of Britain and the United States will set up a body to reduce red tape for firms seeking to access capital markets on both sides of the Atlantic and improve cooperation on crypto assets, Britain's finance ministry said on Monday.

The Transatlantic Taskforce for Markets of the Future will report back within 180 days on ways to enhance collaboration in the short term and on longer-term options, including in wholesale digital markets, the Treasury said. 

Creation of the taskforce was approved by British finance minister Rachel Reeves and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week when President Donald Trump made a state visit to Britain.

U.S. and UK finance ministry officials will chair the new body that will also include regulators from both countries.

Britain's financial services industry has struggled to maintain its pre-eminence in Europe after the Brexit vote in 2016, and many companies have moved their primary stock market listing to the United States.

To try to boost its digital assets industry, Britain has sought to align its approach to crypto to that of the U.S. by using existing regulation to regulate the sector instead of creating new rules, as the European Union has done.

(Writing by William Schomberg; editing by Barbara Lewis)