The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) today announced its Work Program for 2025, outlining key priorities to enhance financial resilience, market effectiveness and investor protection in global markets.
Jean-Paul Servais, Chair of the Board of IOSCO and Chair of the Belgium FSMA, said: “IOSCO remains committed to supporting its members on issues which resonate with them, working collaboratively with other international organizations and standard setters to address global challenges and support greater alignment in regulatory approaches. This cooperation is essential to fostering cohesive and effective responses to emerging risks in financial markets.”
Strengthening Financial Resilience
IOSCO will continue to prioritize issues related to market-based finance (also referred to as non-bank financial intermediation or NBFI), in close collaboration with the Financial Stability Board (FSB). This includes IOSCO’s ongoing contribution to the FSB’s work on leverage in NBFI and addressing issues related to non-bank data availability, use and quality. Additionally, IOSCO will finalise its Revised Recommendations and the accompanying Implementation Guidance on open-ended funds liquidity management, ensuring they reflect evolving market dynamics and contribute to greater resilience in the asset management industry.
Supporting Market Effectiveness
To support market integrity and efficiency, IOSCO will address risks associated with pre-hedging practices employed by market intermediaries, with the aim of identifying potential vulnerabilities and ensuring fair market practices. IOSCO will also review its Principles for the Valuation of Collective Investment Schemes, taking into account the growing significance of private assets in the asset management industry.
Protecting Investors
Following the publication of its Roadmap to Retail Investor Online Safety, IOSCO will take targeted actions to tackle risks posed by imitative and copy trading, poor digital engagement practices, potential conflicts of interest by neo-brokers and the activities of finfluencers. IOSCO and its members will also actively engage with social media companies and search engines to combat online financial harm against retail investors, including through the launch of IOSCO’s I-SCAN – its new Investor Alerts Portal.
Addressing Risks in Sustainable Finance and Fintech
IOSCO will launch a pilot Crypto and Digital Assets (CDA) Implementation Monitoring initiative, closely cooperating with the FSB. IOSCO will further develop its work on the use of AI in financial markets and continue monitoring the evolution of asset tokenization in securities markets. Lastly, working with the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI), IOSCO will seek to strengthen the operational resilience of Financial Market Infrastructures (FMIs).
IOSCO will work alongside the World Bank to support interested jurisdictions in developing carbon markets. IOSCO will also expand its analysis of the sustainable bond markets and ESG indices and conduct an assessment of the implementation of its sustainability-related recommendations for asset management.
Promoting Regulatory Cooperation and Effectiveness
IOSCO will continue its outreach and technical assistance efforts to help jurisdictions meet the requirements of the IOSCO Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU).
IOSCO will expand its NEXTGEN (Nurturing Excellence Through Growth, Education, and Networking) program, with plans to offer over 40 capacity-building initiatives in 2025.
IOSCO will continue to monitor implementation aspects of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) standards and support capacity building for interested jurisdictions that are seeking to adopt, apply, or otherwise use those standards. In particular, it will continue supporting Growth and Emerging Markets (GEM) jurisdictions in adopting the ISSB Sustainability Standards, through its Network for ISSB Standards Adoption or other use of ISSB standards.
For full details on all IOSCO initiatives for 2025, please read the Work Program.
