International Organization of Securities Commissions

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 body. This decision to expand the organisation beyond the Americas was made at the annual gathered in Quito, Ecuador in April 1983. At the same time the organisation was renamed to IOSCO to reflect the expanded membership beyond North and South America.

The securities regulators from France, Indonesia, Korea and the United Kingdom were the first agencies to join the organisation 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 and Portuguese.

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 as well as a series of large global financial scandals that started with Enron and including Worldcom, Parmalat and Vivendi that brought urgency to this work and heralded IOSCOs 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 May 1999 annual conference, held in Lisbon, it was decided to have a permanent headquarters for the administrative General Secretariat and that it should be based in Madrid, Spain.

In 2002 IOSCO adopted a multilateral memorandum of understanding (IOSCO MMoU) designed to facilitate cross-border 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

IOSCO members are divided into three main categories:

Currently, IOSCO has 207 members: 125 ordinary members, 18 associate members, and 64 affiliate members.

The stated goals of the IOSCO are to:

-Promote high standards of regulation for the sake of orderly and efficient markets -Share information with exchanges and assist them with technical and operational issues -Establish standards toward monitoring global investment transactions across borders and markets

Organization structure

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

Leadership

Administratively, IOSCO is run by a General Secretariat based in Madrid, Spain. IOSCO’s current Secretary General is Mr. Paul Andrews and he is assisted by a relatively small group of approximately 30 professional staff.

Chairman of the Executive Committee

Chairman of the Technical Committee

Chairman of the Growth and Emerging Markets Committee

IOSCO also has several regional committees of securities commissions from particular geographical areas. These include the African-Middle East Regional Committee (chaired by Mr. Mounir Gwarzo of the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission), the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee (chaired by Mr. Ashley Ian Alder of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission), the European Regional Committee (chaired by Mr. Jean-Paul Servais of the Belgium Financial Services and Markets Authority), and the Inter-American Regional Committee (chaired by Mr. Jaime González Aguadé of the Mexico Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores).

The Committees

IOSCO’s ordinary and associate membership is divided into several committees. These include:

In addition, IOSCO has four regional committees (Europe, Inter-America, Asia-Pacific and Africa-Middle East) with members drawn from these regions, and an SRO Consultative Committee made up of stock exchanges and financial associations who offer input to the other IOSCO committees on issues of concern to the financial industry.

IOSCO (and its main committees) also have numerous specialized sub-committees (some permanent, some of limited duration) and task forces. IOSCO’s Technical Committee (arguably its most important sub-group, given the prominence of its members and its role as the organization’s “standard-setting” body) has five permanent sub-committees, each focused on a particular area of securities regulation. These sub-committees include:

IOSCO's main committees (Executive, Technical and Emerging Markets) typically meet three times per year, in different countries depending on which member has agreed to act as host. IOSCO also has an annual meeting which, in addition to side meetings of the Executive, Technical and Emerging Markets committees, also involves a meeting of the President's Committee and typically two days of panel discussions open to the public and featuring regulators and business leaders from around the world. The 2006 annual meeting was the first week of June and was held in Hong Kong. The 2007, 2008 and 2009 IOSCO annual conferences were held in Mumbai, India, Paris, France, and Tel Aviv, Israel, respectively. Previous annual conferences have been held in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Amman, Jordan; and Seoul, Korea among others.

In addition, starting in 2004, IOSCO's Technical Committee began hosting an invitation-only conference as a way to spark discussion and dialogue between the top leaders of regulatory, investor, university and business groups. These conferences are held in cities with major stock markets, in part to facilitate attendance by top business executives and investors. Technical Committee conferences typically have a series of panels made up of some of the most prominent names in the securities industry, including the heads of major stock exchanges, current and former SEC chairmen, and the finance ministers of the host country. The first of these conferences was held in New York City, while the 2005 conference was held in Frankfurt am Main. The 2006 Technical Committee conference took place in London in November and the 2007 Technical Committee conference took place in Tokyo in November.

Cooperation with other organisations

IOSCO is a member of, participates as an observer in, or coordinates with a number of other organizations

One of the most important relationships is with the Joint Forum of international financial regulators. IOSCO is one of the three organisations together with its sister organizations, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Association of Insurance Supervisors that make up the 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.

IOSCO also adopted a comprehensive consultation policy designed to facilitate its continuous interaction with the international financial community and in particular with the industry

IOSCO and other international organizations

IOSCO is a member of, participates as an observer in, or coordinates with a number of other international organizations, including:

Significant Policy

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;