Director General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nigeria was on Tuesday,8th June,2010 in Montreal, Canada re-elected as the chairperson of Africa and Middle East Regional Committee (AMERC) of International Organisation of Securities Commission (IOSCO).

The SEC boss who was presented for election by IOSCO Secretary General, Greg Tanzer at the AMERC meeting at the 35th Annual Conference of the world securities regulatory body,was uninamously endorsed by member countries based on the experience that Ms Oteh brings as well as quality leadership Nigeria has provided over the years.

By this election, Oteh is to serve on the Executive Committee , the highest decision making organ of the global body for the next two years while Mr Boulaknadal Hassan, General Manager, Conseil deontologique des Valeurs mobilieres (CDVM) of Morocco will serve as the second representative of AMERC.
In her acceptance speech, Oteh who assumed office in January this year as head the SEC, the capital market apex regulatory body in Nigeria, said her election as AMERC chair was a demonstration of the confidence on her, her team at SEC and Nigeria as a whole. She pledged to be a loud voice representing the Region,s interest and she is also committed to ensuring that the Region would do its best to uphold the goals and ideals of the global body.

She stated that her priority would be to build capacity among AMERC- member countries and promote the integrity of the securities markets to engender investor confidence which are critical to the development of the AMERC capital markets and economies. Her words “ i will do my best and will continue to rely on your support to ensure that AMERC continues to grow stonger and stronger. We will embrace global best practice to ensur that our markets are world class markets”.

The second representative of AMERC, Hassan and Mr Japheth Katto, the Chief Executive of Capital Market Authority of Uganda commended Nigeria’s leadership role in the region and pledged the support of members for the new leadership. 
In her opening remarks at the meeting, the AMERC chair disclosed that the activities of IOSCO were being stepped up particularly in the areas of implementation of its principles of securities regulations, investor education, research and systemic risk issues and encouraged members to be actively involved in these “new waves of regulatory initiatives through regular interactions and dialogue”.

She said “IOSCO in its desire to continuously establish high standards of regulation, had established a set of guiding principles for Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) and developed a model code of conduct for CRAs”.

The AMERC chair encouraged all members to take keen interest in the application of IOSCO principles for Credit Rating Agencies “which will no doubt, promote high standards of investor protection in our markets”.

She also reminded members at the meeting that most regulatory initiatives in recent months have recognized the fact that “a harmonized global system of oversight, built around the principles of full and continuous disclosure, more transparency, accountability and strict enforcement actions remain critical in meeting the present and future challenges of market regulation. Added to these are the global movement towards enthroning Risk Based Supervision (RBS) and the application of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by the global financial industry of which we area a apart”. She advised members to work towards embracing the IFRS and migration to Risk Based Supervision. 

In achieving these, Oteh believes it would involve building capacity in individual jurisdictions and collectively as a regional body which in turn would enable us as regulators to gain mastery of the nitty-gritty of the IFRS and RBS concepts and be able to effectively supervise their application in our markets.

While appreciating the modest recovery so far recorded in the global securities markets, Oteh pleaded with members to be cautious of the challenges that were capable of reversing the gains already made. For instance, she said there was the challenge of “improper behaviour driven at this time by the morbid desire to recover incurred losses from the financial crisis. As regulators, we need to remain on top of the sitiuation and developments in our markets and refuse to take our feet off the important throttle of effective surveillance of the markets.

According to her, “enforcement actions must also be taken where necessary if the markets are to remain stable and continue to command investor confidence”.
In his presentation at the meeting, IOSCO Secretary General, Greg Tanzer intimated members of key proposals of the Executive Committee which were subsequently ratified by the President Committee; the Committee of heads of all regulators that are members of IOSCO. These included the resolution on IOSCO’s Mission, Goals and priorities; Resolution on the MOU; Review of the Annual financial Contribution of members ; and the Resolution on IOSCO Objectives and Principles of Securities regulation.

According to him, the aim of the IOSCO reform would be that IOSCO’ members are committed “ to cooperate in developing, implementing and promoting adherence to internationally recognized and consistent standards of regulation, oversight and enforcement in order to protect investors, maintain fair, efficient and transparent markets, and seek to address systemic risks”. It also seeks “to enhance investor protection and promote investor confidence in the integrity of securities markets through strengthened information exchange, effective cooperation in enforcement against misconduct and in the supervision of markets and markets intermidiaries”. Finally, Tanzer stated that the reform would foster “ exchange of information at both global and regional levels on their respective experiences in order to assist the development of markets, strenghten market infrastructure and implement appropriate regulation”.

The operational goals and priorities of the global body also seek to “identify and address systemic risks to the fair and efficient functioning of the markets; maintain and improve the international regulatory framework for securities markets via the setting of international standard”. It will also “strenghten IOSCO’s role within the international financial community in order to advance the implementation of high-level objectives and principles of securities regulation”.

The Executive Committee also agreed that “as a consequence of setting the strategic direction and operational priorities and in the light of the increased role of international standard setting and of the G20 leaders and finance ministers in marshalling responses to the global financial crisis, IOSCO will need to consider how it is resourced and structures to perform its role”.

On the full implementation of the MOU, it was decided that efforts would be intensified on non applicants while a watch list would be created and made public. But for those on Appendix B, they were encouraged to towards qualifying as Appendix A signatories by 1st January,2013 with a promise to provide them with technical assistance.

However, after January 2013, the Executive Committee would “consider if an additional standard beyond the MOU needs to be developed to take into account developments in markets and supervisory and enforcement practices” Tanzer said.

IOSCO is recognized as the leading international policy forum for securities regulators. The organisation’s membership regulates more than 95% of the world’s securities markets in over 100 jurisdictions and its membership is steadly growing.

Lanre Oloyi
Assistant Director/ Head, Media
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
10th June,2010