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Global securities regulators meet in Colombo

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) hosted high-level meetings of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) in Colombo, bringing together around 50 senior regulatory officials from across the world to strengthen international cooperation and tackle cross-border securities market misconduct

The meetings, held at the Hilton Colombo from October 13 to 16, focused on enhancing information sharing, strengthening investigative collaboration and addressing emerging challenges in securities market enforcement.

Representatives from jurisdictions including Australia, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, China, Singapore, Canada and Germany participated in the discussions, which included sessions of the IOSCO Enforcement and Cooperation Committee and its Screening Group (Committee 4/SG), as well as meetings of the Monitoring Group and Steering Committee.

Welcoming the delegates, SEC Chairman Senior Professor D.B.P.H. Dissabandara stressed the importance of international cooperation in protecting market integrity and investor confidence amid increasingly interconnected financial markets. “No regulator can effectively address cross-border misconduct in isolation,” he said, highlighting the need for timely regulatory responses, effective information sharing and mutual trust among regulators

The discussions covered mechanisms for cross-border information exchange, coordinated investigations, sophisticated securities fraud, market abuse and the implications of technological developments and digitalisation for financial market supervision. IOSCO is the leading international organisation of securities regulators and a global standard setter for securities regulation. Its work focuses on investor protection, ensuring fair, efficient and transparent markets, and reducing systemic risks.

Sri Lanka has maintained an active relationship with IOSCO for more than three decades. The SEC became an ordinary member in 1993 and signed the IOSCO Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) in 2004, providing a framework for information sharing and cooperation in cross-border investigations. The SEC has been a member of IOSCO’s Enforcement and Cooperation Committee since 2015.