- Notable progress on priorities around digital and sustainable finance and cooperation between financial market supervisors
- 400 participants at most senior level from 130 member jurisdictions involved in the regulation of more than 95% of the world’s capital markets
- New brand to embody ISOCO’s re-energised focus on its three core objectives of investor protection, market integrity and financial stability
IOSCO concluded its 49th Annual Meeting this week in Athens, graciously hosted by the Hellenic Capital Markets Commission (HCMC). As the global standard setter for financial markets regulation, IOSCO welcomed close to 400 participants over the course of three days with the HCMC hosting a full-day public conference on the fourth day.
The IOSCO Annual Meeting serves as an effective platform for all IOSCO members to come together and discuss the most relevant issues and risks with regard to global markets and possible ways to address them, as well as capacity building to assist regulators in implementing agreed standards.
Concurrent with this event, IOSCO unveiled a new modern brand identity which reflects the organization’s updated work plan and strengthened impact on the world stage, and meets the evolving needs of its members (www.iosco.org).
Jean-Paul Servais, re-elected Chair of IOSCO’s Board, said: “I am very grateful to the HCMC and its Chair Vassiliki Lazarakou for the excellent organisation of IOSCO’s Annual Meeting. Vassiliki also spearheads the work of our new Diversity Network which had its first meeting in Athens to explore ways to improve diversity in the regulatory sector. I thank all our members and the Chairs of their respective financial markets commissions for the constructive meetings and the notable progress made on IOSCO’s priorities pertaining to sustainable finance, fintech including AI and tokenization, and to our ongoing work on Non-Bank Finance Intermediation.”
Tajinder Singh, Acting Secretary General of IOSCO, noted: “I was pleased to roll-out the transformative new branding for IOSCO which will provide a more engaging experience for all stakeholders. I believe this new identity will resonate with IOSCO’s broad ecosystem. The three dots of IOSCO’ new logo symbolise our determination to deliver on our three key objectives of protecting investors, ensuring fair and efficient markets and promoting financial stability”.
IOSCO also conducted a series of Regulatory Workshops helping members sharpen their technical knowledge. These workshops included sessions on protecting investors in a digital world and finfluencers, and new SupTech. Emerging markets were the focus in sessions which looked at the development of sustainability-related bond markets and effective stock exchanges.
Noting the crucial importance of IOSCO’s work on enforcement for building trust in global capital markets, the IOSCO Board approved a new Compliance Handbook which will encourage consistent compliance with the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU). The MMoU is acknowledged as the key standard for international cooperation and information sharing in this area. New signatories to the MMoU included The Banco Central del Paraguay while the Guernsey Financial Services Commission, the International Financial Services Centre Authority of India and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority of South Africa all signed the Enhanced Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (e-MMoU).
The Board also approved publication of two Final Reports with Good Practices on Leveraged Loans and Collateralised Loan Obligations, and Market Outages. These reports will be published in the coming days.
IOSCO has welcomed three new organisations to its fold since its last Annual Meeting, namely the Financial Services Commission Belize (Associate Member), Federacion Iberoamericana de Bolsas Argentina (Affiliate Member), Financial Markets Standards Board (Affiliate Member).
Looking ahead to 2025, IOSCO’s 50th Annual Meeting will be hosted by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority in May in Qatar.
