The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) announced on Tuesday that it has launched its first regional capacity building hub in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and focus on the needs of its Asia-Pacific members.
The new hub, which will serve as a resource for securities regulators, is in response to demands from IOSCO members for more regulatory capacity — which now includes seminars, staff secondments and an online toolkit on risk-based supervision and enforcement — in growth and emerging markets, the organization states in a news release.
In explaining the need for the new hub, IOSCO referred to an “increasingly complex market environment, growing financial and technological innovation and rapidly expanding cross-border activity.”
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These circumstances are posing challenges for regulators, and creating a growing need for regulatory expertise and assistance “honing” members’ ability to supervise markets, IOSCO said.
“The launch of the IOSCO Asia-Pacific Hub in Kuala Lumpur marks an important milestone for IOSCO, delivering quality capacity building for all IOSCO members, particularly for developing and emerging markets in the Asia-Region,” notes Ashley Alder, chairman of IOSCO’s board of directors and the CEO of the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.
IOSCO’s Growth and Emerging Markets Committee (GEM) is the group’s largest, representing about 80% of IOSCO’s membership, including 11 of its G20 members.
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