IOSCO Commits to Deliver on Sustainability Disclosures and Crypto Exchanges in 2023 – IOSCO publishes Work Program for 2023-2024

IOSCO has published its 2023-2024 Work Program, which outlines its priorities for the next two years.
The program builds on ongoing priorities identified in the 2021-2022 Work Program, the internal workplans of the Board-level FSEG and Board-Taskforces, selected sectoral initiatives of IOSCO Board Committees, as well as new workstreams to emerge from Board discussions on the prioritization of IOSCO work. The workstreams in this Work Program are organized under the following five themes: Strengthening Financial Resilience, Supporting Market Effectiveness, Protecting Investors, Addressing New Risks in Sustainability and Fintech, and Promoting Regulatory Cooperation and Effectiveness.
Under the theme of Strengthening Financial Resilience, IOSCO will maintain its resolve to strengthen the resilience of the global capital markets as a core area of focus. At a time of inflationary pressures, recessionary concerns, and monetary tightening, IOSCO will meet its commitments under the FSB 2023 NBFI workplan as part of its agreed follow-up work in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The IOSCO Board identified Private Finance as a new priority for the 2023-24 Work Program.
IOSCO will also focus on delivering work under its core mandates of Supporting Market Effectiveness and Protecting Investors. Recent shifts in the economic landscape have created new challenges for market participants and underscored the importance of maintaining strong market infrastructure to support resilient primary issuance and secondary markets trading activities across the full range of tradeable assets. It also remains essential to monitor and address misconduct and promote investor protection and education initiatives.
Under the theme of Addressing New Risks in Sustainability and Fintech, the work program calls on IOSCO to continue its efforts in contributing to the urgent goal of improving the completeness, consistency, and comparability of sustainability reporting under the stewardship of its Board-level STF. Similarly, with respect to fintech, the Work Program calls for IOSCO to maintain the momentum reached under its July 2022 crypto-asset roadmap, to assess and respond to the risks associated with crypto-asset market activities and decentralized finance under the stewardship of the Board-level FTF.
IOSCO will also sustain its efforts on Promoting Regulatory Cooperation and Effectiveness, which is essential in IOSCO’s efforts to maintain strong and resilient capital markets worldwide. One of the key initiatives towards promoting regulatory cooperation is the IOSCO MMoU. IOSCO remains committed to promoting the benefits of the MMoU, and to encouraging more jurisdictions to become signatories. IOSCO will also continue its work in other important areas, including matters of special importance to GEM, its collaboration with the FSB and standard-setting bodies, and continuing work on implementation monitoring, capacity building for its members, and supporting investor education as a critical pillar of investor protection.