The world’s securities and futures regulators as well as other members of the international financial community have successfully concluded their meeting in Mumbai, India which took place from April 9-12, on the occasion of the 32nd Annual Conference of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO).

This year’s conference which attracted more than 500 delegates from around the world and which included representatives from more than 100 countries was hosted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India.

The conference was officially opened by P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister of India, whose presence along with other high level dignitaries indicated a strong level of support for the international collaborative efforts of the world’s financial regulators.

In his opening remarks to the conference, Chidambaram said “the protection of the interests of the investors and the promotion and development of the securities market are inseparable twin objectives”.

The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, M. Damodaran, confirmed the importance of this year’s event to India by stating that: “India has become a front runner among the emerging markets in implementing international financial standards. This IOSCO Conference while being yet another significant step in increasing cooperation among securities regulators, has helped to showcase the development and progress which has been achieved in the Indian securities market”.


Jane Diplock, chairwoman of the IOSCO executive committee, revealed that the organization continues to make substantial progress in further promoting the cause of international cooperation among securities regulators in particular via the IOSCO Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding Concerning Consultation and Cooperation and the Exchange of Information (IOSCO MOU).

Diplock said that “the increased capability of regulators to cooperate is vital as capital markets become increasingly global. The effort which IOSCO is driving via the MOU as well as other initiatives is already delivering positive results and will continue to bring major benefits to securities markets worldwide including to investor confidence”.

In his remarks to the conference, the chairman of the IOSCO technical committee, Michel Prada, noted the increased trend towards international convergence as evidenced in the organization’s current activities: “The issues we are working on are slowly but inevitably converging from region to region and also globally, be they related to issuers, such as internal control and disclosure, to intermediaries such as trading and potential conflicts of interest, or related to retail investors such as those regarding the suitability of financial products”.

IOSCO expressed satisfaction with the progress made as the number of signatories to the IOSCO MOU continues to steadily increase. Adopted in May 2002, the IOSCO MOU provides for improved enforcement related cooperation and the exchange of information among regulators. It represents one of the organization’s most significant contributions yet to delivering on better regulatory cooperation and more effective cross-border enforcement.