The International Organisation of Securities Commissions has said that improving global financial market is central to its activities.The organisation in a statement on Thursday, said that it would be collaborating with financial regulators in key markets and exchanges with the aim of achieving this. To this end, the technical committee of the organisation has published a final report on regulatory issues, which according to the statement, will help it to identify the impact of technological changes on market integrity.According to IOSCO, the report is also aimed at promoting market integrity and efficiency and to mitigate the risks posed to the financial system by the latest technological developments including high frequency and algorithmic trading.It added that the report was also designed to help promote a consistent approach among global regulators to the latest technological developments.The statement noted that the recommendations in the report were developed in response to the G20 Leaders request in November 2010 that IOSCO should, "develop recommendations to promote markets integrity and efficiency to mitigate the risks posed to the financial system by the latest technological developments".The Chairman, IOSCOs technical committee, Mr. Masamichi Kono, was quoted in the statement as saying, "Markets are evolving rapidly and it is important for regulators not only to monitor developments in technology and market structure, but also to continue to assess the impact of these changes on market integrity and efficiency and to address any risks identified."The G20 finance ministers and governors have asked for further work by IOSCO by mid-2012 on the subject, thus, IOSCO will focus upon such issues as development of recommendations for market surveillance and an analysis of the evolving new market structure in its next stage of work."He noted that in addition to the above report, a broad range of work had already been completed on market integrity and efficiency, particularly through the development of recommendations and principles in the areas of short selling, structured finance products, direct electronic access, OTC derivatives and dark liquidity. The statement added that the commission would also assess the new challenges that technological changes posed for regulators in their market surveillance.Such challenges, according to Kono, include the fragmentation of markets; the dispersal of trading information; the increased speed of trading; and the ability to gather and process the increased volume of trading data."We will consider the feasibility of regulators having additional tools to deal with the challenges arising from market surveillance, such as additional audit trail or surveillance data consisting of all orders and trades by market participants in a given instrument; and a single reporting point for all orders and for all transactions, by jurisdiction or geographical zone and across asset classes," he said.
Click here to read full news..
