The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is the principal international body that brings together the world's securities regulators. It develops, implements, and promotes adherence to internationally recognized standards for securities regulation, with the goals of protecting investors, ensuring fair and efficient markets, and reducing systemic risk.
IOSCO was created in 1983, evolving out of an inter-American regional association of securities regulators. Its General Secretariat is based in Madrid, Spain. Membership is organized into three categories: ordinary members (the primary securities regulator in a jurisdiction, such as the US SEC, the UK FCA, Japan's FSA, or India's SEBI), associate members, and affiliate members (typically self-regulatory organizations and exchanges).
Its core regulatory framework is set out in the Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation, first published in 1998 and periodically updated. These principles cover regulators, enforcement, cooperation, issuers, auditors, collective investment schemes, market intermediaries, secondary markets, and clearing and settlement.
A central instrument of IOSCO is the Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) concerning consultation, cooperation, and the exchange of information, adopted in 2002. The MMoU created a global benchmark for cross-border enforcement cooperation among securities regulators, and was supplemented by the Enhanced MMoU (EMMoU) in 2017, which expanded available investigative powers.
IOSCO works closely with other standard-setters and is a member of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). It contributes to global responses on issues such as benchmark reform after the LIBOR scandal, the regulation of credit rating agencies, sustainability disclosure (supporting the work of the ISSB), market conduct in commodity derivatives, and the oversight of crypto-asset markets, on which it issued policy recommendations in 2023.
Unlike a treaty body, IOSCO has no binding legal authority; its influence operates through peer assessment, membership conditions, and incorporation of its standards into national law.
Example
In 2023, IOSCO published policy recommendations for the regulation of crypto and digital asset markets, urging members such as the US SEC and UK FCA to apply equivalent standards to traditional finance.
Frequently asked questions
No. IOSCO is an independent international association of securities regulators, not a UN body, though it cooperates with UN-linked initiatives, particularly on sustainability disclosure.
Keep learning