On 5 April 2023, the Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published its 2023 – 2024 Work Program.
Each of the proposed priority work streams in this Work Program are organised under the following five themes:
- Strengthening financial resilience.
- Supporting market effectiveness.
- Protecting investors.
- Addressing new risks in sustainability and fintech.
- Promoting regulatory cooperation and effectiveness.
In addition, following the risks, trends and vulnerabilities identified in its 2023 risk outlook, the IOSCO Board identified private finance as one new priority, under the theme of strengthening financial resilience. The renewed regulatory interest stems from the unprecedented growth of private finance activities and its increasing role in funding the real economy, combined with emerging concerns around the increasing interconnectivity of the sector with regulated public markets at a time of inflationary pressures, recessionary concern and monetary tightening.
Furthermore, with respect to sustainability-related issues in capital markets, the Work Program calls on IOSCO to continue its efforts in contributing to the urgent goal of improving the completeness, consistency and comparability of sustainability reporting under the stewardship of its Board level Sustainability Taskforce. In particular, this year IOSCO will review the first set of standards developed by the IFRS International Sustainability Standards Board to determine whether they can be endorsed as a global framework for sustainability related corporate disclosures.
Concerning fintech, the Work Program calls for IOSCO to maintain momentum under its July 2022 crypto-asset roadmap to assess and respond to the risks associated with crypto-asset market activities and decentralised finance under the stewardship of the Board-level Fintech Taskforce.
IOSCO will also sustain its efforts in other important areas, including matters of special importance to growth and emerging markets, its collaboration with the Financial Stability Board and standard setting bodies, as well as implementation monitoring, capacity building for its members and supporting investors education as a critical pillar of investor protection.