On 30 March 2023, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a final report from its retail market conduct taskforce which provides an overview of the evolving retail trading landscape and sets out a suite of potential measures for regulators to consider in building or enhancing their respective regulatory approaches to retail misconduct issues. The final report considers potential ‘magnifiers’ of retail investor harm – including increasing retail trading and changing retail behaviour; the evolving frauds and scams landscape and key conduct issues; and the impact of technological elements, such as social media and digitalization, on retail banking.

In terms of the suite of potential measures for regulators to consider, these are set out under five overarching categories:

  • Heightening regulators’ digital presence and online strategy to proactively address retail investor harm.
  • Honing approaches to better identify and mitigate misconduct.
  • Enhancing cross-border and domestic supervisory and enforcement cooperation frameworks, both bilaterally and multilaterally.
  • Addressing retail investor harm that stems from crypto-assets.
  • Implementing new regulatory approaches against retail misconduct.