The Australian Department of the Treasury and the United Kingdom’s HM Treasury held the inaugural UK-Australia Joint Financial Regulatory Forum in a virtual meeting on 24 September 2025, delivering a commitment under the 2021 UK-Australia Free Trade Agreement to strengthen regulatory cooperation in financial services. Officials and regulators discussed priority areas spanning regulatory reform and market access, pensions regulation, and digital assets, alongside broader engagement in multilateral standard-setting. The forum was jointly chaired by HM Treasury’s Director General (Financial Services) and the Australian Treasury’s Deputy Secretary (Markets Group), with participation from HM Treasury, the Australian Treasury, the Bank of England, the Financial Conduct Authority, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority. Discussions covered approaches to enabling market access including recognition of overseas regimes, the UK’s work on competitiveness and regulatory reform initiatives and Australia’s Council of Financial Regulators-led reform agenda, and pensions measures including Australia’s Member Outcomes Assessments and the UK’s developing Value for Money framework as well as decumulation policy. On digital assets, both sides compared crypto asset and stablecoin regulatory developments and explored similarities, and the UK outlined Financial Stability Board Chair Andrew Bailey’s priorities including mitigating risks from non-bank financial institutions and strengthening surveillance tools to identify system vulnerabilities. Further bilateral conversations are planned, including on open finance and sustainable finance, covering topics such as sustainable investment product labels, climate-related financial disclosures, transition planning and enhanced data sharing. The forum was followed by an industry-led UK-Australia business roundtable on 25 September 2025.

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