International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)

What Is the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)?

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is a global cooperative of securities regulatory agencies that plans to lay out and keep up with worldwide standards for efficient, orderly and fair markets. The stated objectives of the IOSCO are to:

• Advance high standards of regulation for orderly and efficient markets
• Share data with exchanges and help them with technical and operational issues
• Lay out standards toward monitoring global investment transactions across lines and markets

Understanding the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)

There were in excess of 231 members in the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) as of February 2022. Membership is separated into three categories. These include:

• Ordinary members, which incorporate the primary futures markets and securities regulators in a given jurisdiction. Every ordinary member has one vote.
• Associate members, comprising of extra futures and securities regulators in those jurisdictions that have different regulatory bodies. Associate members don't have a vote and aren't eligible for the Executive Committee, however are members of the Presidents' Committee.
• Affiliate members, which incorporate self-regulatory organizations, stock exchanges, and stock market industry associations. These members don't have a vote and are not eligible for either the Executive Committee or the President's Committee, yet might be members of the Self-Regulatory Organizations (SRO) Consultative Committee.

The IOSCO is comprised of several committees that meet at conferences that happen around the world several times per year. Its administrative offices of the General Secretariat are situated in Madrid. It has four regional committees and a technical committee, which does a significant part of the organization's regulatory work.

History of the IOSCO

In 1983, the Inter-American Regional Association, which had been shaped in 1974, expanded its operations into a global cooperative that turned into the IOSCO. The primary regulators from outside the Americas to join the IOSCO were from Indonesia, France, Korea, and the United Kingdom. The main IOSCO Annual Conference to occur outside the Americas was the July 1986 Paris Annual Conference.

The IOSCO presently works in excess of 130 jurisdictions, covering over 95% of the world's markets, and is viewed as the source for global standards of market operation. In 1998, it approved the IOSCO Principles, which set the benchmark for securities markets worldwide. The IOSCO has since delivered a methodology for how to accomplish those benchmarks. The IOSCO's work has been lauded at the highest levels of government, particularly in the outcome of 9/11, as transactions between various countries became something that required increased examination and regulatory control.