ISLAMABAD May 15: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has been elected to the International Organisa-tion of Securities Comm-issions (IOSCO) Board.

This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that a regulatory body has been elected to a decision making board at an international forum. The elections were held at the IOSCO Annual Conference in Beijing, Tuesday, which is an international standard setter in the field of securities regulation has a membership base from 115 countries covering more than 95 percent of the world’s capital markets.

In order to effectively implement international securities regulatory principles, IOSCO has implemented the New Strategic Direction to strengthen its role in the international financial community and align its strategic direction with the evolving financial regulatory landscape.

Under this Strategic Direction IOSCO has eliminated the distinction between developed and emerging markets jurisdictions in its three key functions; policy & standard setting, market development and coordination & outreach.

The IOSCO Board apart from the SECP comprises of approximately 30 securities regulators from jurisdictions including members of the IOSCO Technical Committee; (United States, United Kingdom, Japan, France, Germany, China, Canada, Italy, Australia, India, Brazil, Hong Kong, Mexico, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland).

In a statement the SECP has said that its election to IOSCO Board brings more balance and diversity to the IOSCO Board, enabling it to act as a representative and voice of the developing capital markets.

The SECP’s endeavor to form part of the IOSCO Board was supported by a host of jurisdictions including Australia, China, India, Japan, Korea and Singapore to name a few.

The SECP will now form an integral part of IOSCO’s Board responsible for taking all decisions and undertaking all actions necessary or convenient to achieve the objectives of the organisation.