Frits Bolkestein, Europe's internal market commissioner, has urged the US to accept equivalent European Union financial regulations during a two-day visit to Washington starting Tuesday.

In a speech to the Institute for International Economics, Bolkestein said: "Realising a transatlantic capital market depends on one single principle - equivalence of regulations. The breaking down of barriers between countries always requires trust, and trust is a matter of equivalence. It is a matter of recognising that the way foreign companies are regulated and controlled in their home states, is as sound as your own."