The US government has not started shopping for Canary Wharf office space just yet, but the Securities and Exchange Commission’s plans to open an overseas office in London or Brussels are gaining traction. The proposed European office would represent the Commission’s point of view at overseas regulatory gatherings. But the plan underscores the SEC’s growing impact on businesses outside the US.

Two surveys by law firms suggest that the SEC is already viewed as one of Europe’s most important regulators, even by companies that are not officially under its jurisdiction. When DLA Piper asked 250 European companies about potential regulatory entanglements, the SEC topped the list as the worst possible option. Fully 37 per cent rated a potential SEC enforcement action as “very damaging”, well above concerns about their own police, financial services regulators and European competition authorities. DLA Piper lawyers were so surprised by the result they initially thought the companies had misunderstood the question.