ASIC today co-chaired an international taskforce meeting in Sydney with leading financial industry representatives in an important step towards a global regulatory framework for previously unregulated financial markets and products.

The taskforce, the IOSCO Technical Committee on Unregulated Financial Markets and Products (TFUMP), was set up in late 2008 in response to calls by the G20 for a review of the scope of financial regulation, particularly those institutions, instruments and markets that are currently unregulated. The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has also recently emphasized the importance of securitisation markets to the global economy.

TFUMP, co-chaired by ASIC and the Autorité des Marchés Financiers of France, is focused on developing a coordinated regulatory solution to improve confidence in securitisation and credit default swap markets.

Today's meeting involved over 70 participants, including regulators from 10 major securitisation markets and a broad cross section of the securitisation industry, to discuss the implementation of recommendations proposed in the IOSCO Technical Committee Final Report, Unregulated Financial Markets and Products.

ASIC Commissioner, Greg Medcraft, said the meeting allowed key global participants, instrumental to the success of the project, to provide input into these necessary reforms.

‘This meeting showed the high level of interest the securitisation industry has in recommendations designed to enhance disclosure, align incentives in the securitisation process and improve investor confidence across the globe,’ he said.

‘One of the meeting's goals was to consider ways to achieve consistency and convergence of global regulation, particularly with respect to equivalence, to facilitate cross border capital flows.’

The meeting was part of an on-going initiative of the IOSCO Technical Committee to enhance its dialogue with financial market stakeholders.