A group of international securities regulators has released a set of principles designed to improve cross-border supervision.

The principles, published to Monday by the International Organization of Securities Commissions, set out how securities regulators can build and maintain cross-border co-operative relationships that will allow them to more effectively oversee financial services players such as, investment advisors, asset managers, hedge funds, credit rating agencies, exchanges and clearing houses, that operate in multiple jurisdictions.

“Where financial firms or other market participants operate across borders, financial regulators can benefit from sharing information they have collected with their overseas counterparts, as this can assist each regulator in recognizing potentially troublesome trends, help identify common concerns and improve the abilities of regulators to assess the risk profile that a globally-active regulated entity may present,” noted the co-chairs of the task force that drafted the principles, Kathleen Casey, chairman of IOSCO’s technical committee, and Jean-Pierre Jouyet, chairman of France’s Autorité des marchés financiers.

“Today’s report sets out the framework for better supervisory co-operation outside of enforcement matters, improving information sharing arrangements and conducting joint inspections, which is in keeping with G20 recommendations. We expect this to be useful for members in their drive to improve their oversight of entities which operate across borders, such as investment advisors, credit rating agencies, hedge funds, exchange operators and clearing houses,” they added.

IE