The group of regulators that nominate the Public Interest Oversight Board, which oversees efforts to develop international standards for the accounting profession, today announced that the reappointment of its existing members, and the addition of the European Commission to its group.

The nominating committee of the monitoring group — comprised of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, and the World Bank — announced that the EC has joined the committee.

The committee is responsible for nominating members to the PIOB, which oversees the public interest activities of the International Federation of Accountants. These activities include the setting of international auditing standards and ethical and education standards for the accounting profession as well as the IFAC member body compliance program.

It also announced that each of the eight current PIOB members — including former chairman of the Ontario Securities Commission, David Brown, and Michael Hafeman, former assistant Superintendent of Financial Institutions — has been reappointed, and that the two former EC observers have been appointed as full members of the PIOB.

Christopher Cox, chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, vice chairman of the IOSCO Technical Committee and chairman of the monitoring group said, “We are pleased with the accession of the European Commission to the nominating committee and welcome the former EC observer representatives as full members of the PIOB. We are also delighted that our confidence in the PIOB has led to the reappointment of all current members.”

The chairman of the PIOB, and professor of Finance at the University of Athens, Stavros Thomadakis, said, “The development, acceptance and use of high quality international auditing, ethics and education standards for the accounting profession are necessary for transparent, stable and healthy capital markets. Effective, independent oversight is vital for ongoing confidence in the international standard setting process and the PIOB will continue to provide that oversight during its second term.”