The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organisations that regulate the world's securities and futures markets. Members are typically the Securities Commission or the main financial regulator from each country. IOSCO has members from over 100 different countries, who regulate more than 90 percent of the world's securities markets.
The organisations role is to assist its members to promote high standards of regulation and act as a forum for national regulators to cooperate with each other and other international organisations. IOSCO is structured into a number of committees that meet several times per year at different locations around the world and it has a permanent secretariat based in Madrid.
The IOSCO, the international standard setter in the field of securities regulation, of which the SECP has been a member since 1998, has the commitment to the establishment and maintenance of consistently high regulatory standards for the securities industry.
In order to effectively implement international securities regulatory principles, the IOSCO has implemented the New Strategic Direction to strengthen its role in the international financial community and align its strategic direction with the evolving financial regulatory landscape. Under this Strategic Direction, IOSCO has eliminated the distinction between developed and emerging markets jurisdictions in its three key functions; policy and standard setting, market development and co-ordination and outreach.
The IOSCO Board apart from the SECP comprises of approximately 30 securities regulators from jurisdictions including members of the IOSCO Technical Committee; (Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Ontario, Quebec, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom and United States) the Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Emerging Markets Committee, Chairmen of four IOSCO Regional Committees; and two ordinary members elected by each Regional Committee from among the ordinary members of that region. IOSCO Board has a major representation from developed countries with advanced capital markets, whereas a number of developing and emerging countries are members of IOSCO.
The SEC Pakistan's election to IOSCO Board brings more balance and diversity to the IOSCO Board, and act as a representative and voice of the developing capital markets. The SEC Pakistan, a signatory to IOSCO's Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding, remains committed to advance IOSCO's mandate through its contribution and participation in various committees and task forces constituted by IOSCO. As part of its contributions, the SEC Pakistan:
chaired/co-chaired IOSCO EMC Working Group (WG) on regulation of Market Intermediaries since 2003, and will also hold the position of vice chair IOSCO Committee on Market Intermediaries for the year 2013-14; is a member of IOSCO Assessment Committee; is a project team member of EMC WG5 on Investment Management; is a member of the taskforce on development of corporate bond markets; and is a member of the taskforce on Capital Financing of SMEs.
The SECP will now form an integral part of IOSCO's Board responsible for taking all decisions and undertaking all actions necessary or convenient to achieve the objectives of the organisation. The Board will begin convene for the first time on May 17 2012 before the closing of the IOSCO Annual Conference 2012.
SEC Pakistan's presence on the IOSCO Board will substantiate the mandate of IOSCO since, as a global representative of capital market regulators around the world, it is important for IOSCO to engender focused and constructive dialogue amongst securities regulators so that the policies and standards for securities regulation reflect broad consensus of member jurisdictions. In this regard, SEC Pakistan's bilateral links with its counterpart regulators in emerging market jurisdictions would add value to the IOSCO Board in terms of facilitating a consultative dialogue process for the mutual benefit of emerging market regulators.
Being elected to the Board portrays Pakistan's contribution to this vital forum and has been a key factor in improving the country's image globally. The SECP Chairman Muhammad Ali who will be the SECP's representative to the Board, while delivering his speech after winning the candidacy stated, "IOSCO has a critical role in leading the development of the global framework for securities markets and Pakistan looks forward to supporting this progress as part of the think tank towards improving regulatory standards. The SECP has the resources to commit towards taking IOSCO's mandate forward, comprehend the issues faced by IOSCO member community and the passion to bring new ideas to make IOSCO an effective standard setting body. Markets in Pakistan are at a key development stage and thus Pakistan will be in a unique position to bring to the fore the issues faced by the emerging markets".
Being an emerging economy in the Asia Pacific region, Pakistan's experience in implementation of global standards and reforms, put SECP in a good position to add substantial value to the IOSCO Board. The SECP is currently a part of the IOSCO Presidents Committee, Emerging Markets Committee (EMC), Emerging Markets Committee Advisory Board (EMCAB), Asia Pacific Regional Committee and Assessment Committee. Furthermore, the SECP is also a full signatory to IOSCO's Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) for cross border co-operation and information exchange.
SECP has also been the Chair of IOSCO EMC Working Group 3 (WG3) on regulation of Market Intermediaries since 2003, presently holds the designation of Co-Chair of the Working Group and will hold the position of vice chair IOSCO Committee on Market Intermediaries from 2013-14. In addition, the SECP is also project team member of EMC WG5 on Investment Management, member of the taskforce on development of corporate bond markets and member of the taskforce on Capital Financing of SMEs through the Capital Markets.
Apart from IOSCO, SECP is also a member of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) and International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS). Muhammad Ali quoted "By virtue of its participation and active contribution at these forums to benchmark Pakistan's financial markets with international standards, SEC Pakistan has developed expertise and experience in regulatory issues across these sectors. We understand that our work experience with IAIS and IOPS will add value to the role at IOSCO Board, considering the linkages of all these financial sector standard setting forums".-PR
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