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The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is an association of organizations that regulate the world's
securities A security is a tradable financial asset. The term commonly refers to any form of financial instrument, but its legal definition varies by jurisdiction. In some countries and languages people commonly use the term "security" to refer to any for ...
and
futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded * ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures'' (album), a ...
markets. Members are typically primary securities and/or futures regulators in a national jurisdiction or the main financial regulator from each country. Its mandate is to: * Develop, implement, and promote high standards of regulation to enhance investor protection and reduce systemic risk * Share information with exchanges and assist them with technical and operational issues * Establish standards toward monitoring global investment transactions across borders and markets IOSCO has members from over 100 countries, who regulate more than 95% of the world's securities markets. It has a permanent secretariat in
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
.


History

IOSCO was born in 1983 from the transformation of its ancestor the "Inter-American Regional Association" (created in 1974) into a truly global cooperative. This decision to expand the organization beyond the Americas was made at the annual gathered in Quito,
Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Ekua ...
, in April 1983. At the same time, the organization was renamed to IOSCO to reflect the expanded membership beyond North and South America. Securities regulators from France,
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guinea. In ...
,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its ea ...
, and the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Nor ...
were the first agencies to join from outside the Americas. The IOSCO July 1986 Paris Annual Conference was the first to take place outside of the American continents and on that occasion a decision was made to create a permanent General Secretariat for the Organization. One remnant of its early inter-American roots is that IOSCO's "official" languages are English, French,
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, and
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
. In 1998 IOSCO started work on a number of important policies that led to broader set of guidelines. However it was the
September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
as well as a series of large global financial scandals that started with
Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. ...
and including
Worldcom MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
,
Parmalat Parmalat S.p.A. is a dairy and food corporation which is a subsidiary of French multinational company Lactalis. It was founded by Calisto Tanzi in 1961. Having become the leading global company in the production of long-life milk using ultra-h ...
, and
Vivendi Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
that brought urgency to this work and heralded IOSCO's evolution from an international "talk shop", where little of substance was accomplished, to a serious international organization with a real impact on the securities regulation. At the 1999 conference in
Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...
, it was decided to have a permanent headquarters for the administrative General Secretariat and that it should be based in Madrid. In 2002 IOSCO adopted a multilateral memorandum of understanding (IOSCO MMoU) designed to facilitate crossborder enforcement and exchange of information among the international community of securities regulators. Then in 2005 IOSCO MMoU become the benchmark for international cooperation among securities regulators.


Membership

As of March 2022, IOSCO had 231 members. IOSCO members are divided into three main categories: *Ordinary members: primary securities and/or
futures Futures may mean: Finance *Futures contract, a tradable financial derivatives contract *Futures exchange, a financial market where futures contracts are traded * ''Futures'' (magazine), an American finance magazine Music * ''Futures'' (album), a ...
markets regulators in a jurisdiction. A
stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for the ...
or
self-regulatory organization A self-regulatory organization (SRO) is an organization that exercises some degree of regulatory authority over an industry or profession. The regulatory authority could exist in place of government regulation, or applied in addition to governmen ...
may be an ordinary member, but only if it is the jurisdiction's primary securities regulator. Each ordinary member has one vote. *Associate members: other securities and/or futures regulators in cases where there's more than one per jurisdiction. For example, the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent agency of the US government created in 1974 that regulates the U.S. derivatives markets, which includes futures, swaps, and certain kinds of options. The Commodity Exchange Ac ...
(CFTC) and the
North American Securities Administrators Association The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), founded in Kansas in 1919, is the oldest international investor protection organization. NASAA is an association of state securities administrators who are charged with the responsi ...
in the United States are associate members of IOSCO given that the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary pu ...
is the ordinary member from the United States. Associate members have no vote and are not eligible for the Executive Committee; they are, however, members of the Presidents' Committee. *Affiliate members: include stock exchanges, self-regulatory organizations, and various stock market industry associations. Affiliate members have no vote, are not eligible for the Executive Committee, and are not members of the Presidents' Committee. Affiliate members that are self-regulatory organizations (SROs), are, however, members of the SRO Consultative Committee.


Structure

The organization is made up of a number of committees that meet several times a year at locations around the world supported by a permanent administrative General Secretariat.


Leadership

Administratively, IOSCO is run by a General Secretariat based in
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. IOSCO's current Secretary General is Paul P. Andrews, who started his renewable three-year term in March 2016. Previously, he served as the Vice President and Managing Director of
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is a private American corporation that acts as a self-regulatory organization (SRO) that regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets. FINRA is the successor to the National Associati ...
(FINRA) a
self-regulatory organization A self-regulatory organization (SRO) is an organization that exercises some degree of regulatory authority over an industry or profession. The regulatory authority could exist in place of government regulation, or applied in addition to governmen ...
in the United States. The IOSCO Board is IOSCO's governing and standard-setting body. It is composed of 33 securities regulators;
Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission The Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) of Hong Kong is the independent statutory body charged with regulating the securities and futures markets in Hong Kong. The SFC is responsible for fostering an orderly securities and futures mark ...
CEO Ashley Ian Alder is the IOSCO Board Chair (he also chairs the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee). He is supported by two Vice Chairs, Ranjit Ajit Singh, Chair of the
Securities Commission Malaysia The Securities Commission Malaysia ( ms, Suruhanjaya Sekuriti Malaysia) is a Malaysian statutory body with responsibility for development and regulation of capital markets in the country. It is located in Bukit Kiara near the National Science Ce ...
(who chairs the Growth and Emerging Markets Committee, IOSCO's largest sub-committee) and Jean-Paul Servais, Chair of Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority (who chairs the European Regional Committee as well).


Regional committees

IOSCO has four regional committees: * African-Middle East Regional Committee: chaired by Mounir Gwarzo of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission * Asia-Pacific Regional Committee: chaired by Jun Mizuguchi of the Japan Financial Services Agency * European Regional Committee: chaired by Jean-Paul Servais of the Belgium Financial Services and Markets Authority * Inter-American Regional Committee: chaired by Jaime González Aguadé of the
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
's
Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores In Mexico, the Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores (CNBV) ( en, National Banking and Securities Commission) is an independent agency of the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit (Mexico) (SHCP) body with technical autonomy and executive po ...


External cooperation

IOSCO is a member of, participates as an observer in, or coordinates with a number of other organizations. One of its most important relationships is with the
Joint Forum The Joint Forum (previously known as The Joint Forum on Financial Conglomerates) is an international group bringing together financial regulatory representatives from banking, insurance and securities. It works under the international bodies for th ...
of international financial regulators. IOSCO, along with the
Basel Committee on Banking Supervision The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) is a committee of banking supervisory authorities that was established by the central bank governors of the Group of Ten (G10) countries in 1974. The committee expanded its membership in 2009 a ...
and the
International Association of Insurance Supervisors The International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS) is a voluntary membership organization of insurance supervisors from over 190 jurisdictions, constituting 97% of the world's insurance premiums. It is the international standards-sett ...
, make up the Joint Forum. The IOSCO MOUs are considered the primary instruments to facilitate cross border cooperation, reduce global systemic risk, protect investors, and ensure fair and efficient securities markets. Additionally, IOSCO is a member of, participates as an observer in, or coordinates with a number of other international organizations, including the
OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
, FSB,
Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF), also known by its French name, ''Groupe d'action financière'' (GAFI), is an intergovernmental organisation founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat m ...
,
IASB The International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) is the independent accounting standard-setting body of the IFRS Foundation. The IASB was founded on April 1, 2001, as the successor to the International Accounting Standards Committee (IASC). I ...
, PIOB,
IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...
,
World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...
, and
European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
.


Policies

IOSCO adopted in 1998 a comprehensive set of ''Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation'' (IOSCO Principles). These continue to be developed and expanded. IOSCO recommends all its members to adopt these and helps its members assess the level of compliance with the principles. These include; *Regulatory principles designed to improve auditor independence and auditor oversight *Regulatory principles for corporate financial disclosure and transparency *Regulatory principles regarding conflicts of interest for financial analysts *A code of conduct for
credit rating agencies A credit rating agency (CRA, also called a ratings service) is a company that assigns credit ratings, which rate a debtor's ability to pay back debt by making timely principal and interest payments and the likelihood of default. An agency may rat ...
*A set of "core principles" for securities regulation designed to outline for IOSCO members what makes up "good" securities regulation *A multilateral memorandum of understanding on enforcement co-operation, through which IOSCO members pledge to provide each other with collecting information and witness statements in an enforcement investigation


See also

* CPSS-IOSCO Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures *
Financial regulation Financial regulation is a form of regulation or supervision, which subjects financial institutions to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, aiming to maintain the stability and integrity of the financial system. This may be handled ...
*
International Centre for Financial Regulation The International Centre for Financial Regulation (ICFR) (2009–12) was a UK-based non-partisan organisation focused entirely on financial regulation that operated between 2009 and 2012. History IFCR was the product of a collaboration between a n ...
*
List of financial regulatory authorities by country The following is an incomplete list of financial regulatory authorities by country. List A-B * Afghanistan - Da Afghanistan Bank (DAB) * Albania - Albanian Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA) * Algeria - Commission d'Organisation et de ...
* Securities commission *
Stock exchange A stock exchange, securities exchange, or bourse is an exchange where stockbrokers and traders can buy and sell securities, such as shares of stock, bonds and other financial instruments. Stock exchanges may also provide facilities for the ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:International Organization Of Securities Commissions Financial regulation International finance institutions Securities and exchange commissions