A regulatory task force established by the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is meeting this week to explore possible regulatory reforms in the market for complex structured and securitized products.
The task force, which has adopted a voluntary ban on the sale of these sorts of products to retail investors, is meeting in Brussels.
In 2011, the Belgian regulator, known as the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), introduced a moratorium on the distribution of particularly complex structured products to retail investors, which is to remain in effect until new rules for the sector are implemented. All of the major distributors of structured products voluntarily signed on to the moratorium, it notes. And, its consultation on new rules was completed earlier this year.
“We are meeting here in Brussels to share our experience of the moratorium and to discuss developments in the structured products market in order to seek, together, the appropriate responses,” said Jean-Paul Servais, chairman of the FSMA.
The co-chairs of the IOSCO task force — Greg Medcraft, chairman of the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, and Edouard Vieillefond, managing director of France’s Autorité des Marchés Financiers — said that the meeting of experts from national securities regulators will help further progress on possible reforms related to securitization and retail structured products.