IOSCO is the global standard-setter for securities markets, bringing together national regulators that oversee roughly 95% of the world's securities markets. It develops principles for market integrity, investor protection, and systemic risk, and increasingly coordinates with the FSB on non-bank finance and crypto-asset regulation.
How it works
IOSCO is not a treaty body with binding power; it sets standards that member regulators implement domestically. Its Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation form the benchmark against which IMF/World Bank FSAP assessments are run. It works in tandem with the Financial Stability Board (FSB), which covers banking and systemic policy, while IOSCO owns the securities and market-conduct dimension.
Why it matters now
As non-bank financial intermediation, private credit, and tokenised/crypto assets become the locus of systemic concern in 2025-2026, IOSCO is the body translating FSB-level risk diagnoses into securities-market rules — making its work programme a leading indicator of where market-structure regulation lands next.
Example
In November 2023 IOSCO published its 18 Policy Recommendations for Crypto and Digital Asset Markets, setting a global baseline for conflicts of interest, custody, and market manipulation that national regulators — from the UK FCA to MAS — have since referenced when building domestic crypto regimes.
Frequently asked
- What is IOSCO?
- IOSCO, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, is the global standard-setter for securities and derivatives markets. Its members are national securities regulators covering roughly 95% of the world's markets. It develops principles for investor protection, market integrity, and systemic risk reduction that members implement through their own domestic legislation.
- How does IOSCO differ from the FSB?
- IOSCO sets securities-market and conduct standards, while the Financial Stability Board (FSB) coordinates systemic financial-stability policy across banking, insurance, and markets at the G20 level. The FSB often issues high-level risk diagnoses — on leverage or non-bank finance — and IOSCO operationalises the securities-market portion into detailed regulatory recommendations.
- Does IOSCO have legal authority over regulators?
- IOSCO has no binding legal authority; it is a standard-setting body, not a treaty organisation. Its principles become enforceable only when member regulators transpose them into national law. Compliance is assessed indirectly through IMF and World Bank Financial Sector Assessment Programs, which benchmark countries against IOSCO's Objectives and Principles.
- Why does IOSCO matter for non-bank finance regulation?
- IOSCO matters for non-bank finance because it owns the securities-market dimension of the global regulatory response to private credit, money-market funds, and open-ended funds. As systemic risk migrates from banks to market-based intermediaries in 2025-2026, IOSCO's work programme signals where leverage and liquidity rules for non-banks will tighten next.