Abu Dhabi, 19th May 2012 (WAM): The Securities and Commodities Authority (SCA) has participated in the 37th Annual Conference of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which was held in the Chinese capital, Beijing.

Abdullah Al-Turifi, SCA Chief Executive Officer, led the UAE delegation to the conference attended by heads of securities market regulators from various parts of the world.

The conference highlighted a number of issues related to regulators strategies for market supervision, challenges facing them and ways to improve market performance.

In a statement, Al-Turifi said the conference, which comprised of four main sessions, discussed a number of scientific and professional researches and studies regarding developments on the financial markets and how best regulators can face successfully challenges facing them.

He pointed out that the first session of the conference, which was held under the title: "New Financial Architecture and International Standards Setting in the Post-Crisis Era", dealt with a number of issues including the cause of the global financial crisis and lessons learned, building a new financial architecture and improving relevant international standards, changing perimeter of securities regulation and supervision pre-and post-subprime, prevention and monitoring of systematic risks and cross-border risks, the importance of cross-border cooperation, information sharing and IOSCO?s interaction with the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and G20.

Regarding the subject of the second session, Al-Turifi said it was held under the title "Financial Market Infrastructures, OTC Derivatives, and Market Integrity", during which they discussed issues including challenges of building a multilevel capital market and improving financial market infrastructures, investor protection and market integrity, regulation of OTC derivatives, development of institutional investors and regulation of PE and hedge funds.

Al-Turifi added that the third session which was held under the title "Capital Markets Development and Regulatory Trends in Emerging Markets", discussed issues like the opening up and development of capital markets in emerging economies, development and regulation of corporate bond markets, and building of international financial centers.

He said the fourth session was held under the title "Regulation of Commodity Futures and Financial Derivatives," during which the meeting discussed issues including regulation of commodity futures and financial derivatives, cross-border cooperation and information sharing of derivatives regulation, trends and regulation in major commodity futures markets i.e. oil and grain futures.

The SCA has also participated in the meetings of the Emerging Markets Committee (EMC) held in the first two days of the five-day conference, during which the EMC discussed a number of issues and prepared reports which they referred to the Presidents Committee for deliberation and action during the four public sessions. The EMC reports include a report on "Development and Regulation of Institutional Investors in the Emerging Markets" and technical note on "Day Trading in Emerging Markets", in addition to discussing other reports including the Chairmans and Secretary Generals Reports on latest developments on the multi-lateral memoranda of understanding (MMoUs) among IOSCO members at the Emerging Market level, a report on the IOSCO educational programs, a report on the market development workshops and another on elections of the EMC chair and vice chair.

Its worth mentioning here that IOSCO holds every year an annual conference which provides a platform for sharing of information and expertise among member regulatory bodies from all parts of the world. The conference, which is attended by heads of financial market regulators, board chairpersons and director generals of many international economic and financial services institutions, representatives of investment banks and international financial market experts, discusses issues related to financial market with a focus on developing financial market regulatory standards, problems facing the markets and ways to solve them.

Established in 1983, IOSCOs primary objective is to establish and promote high international standards with a view towards promoting transparency and effectiveness of securities markets, reducing global systemic risk, facilitating cross-border cooperation, protecting investors and promoting market integrity.

IOSCO aims at boosting cooperation among its member market regulators, in addition to the World Bank (WB), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and some various financial and monetary institutions. It is recognized as the international standard setter for securities markets and is the primary international cooperative forum for securities market regulatory agencies. IOSCO currently has over 200 members that regulate more than 95% of the worlds securities markets.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2012.