IOSCO Chairman: Global Regulators Were Wrong

IOSCO Chairman: Global Regulators Were Wrong, Should Reconsider
Systemic Importance of Large Funds, Asset Managers

Washington, DC – Greg Medcraft, Chairman of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), will speak at a National Press Club Newsmakers news conference on Monday, June 22 – to explain why his organization now believes that global policy makers have taken the wrong approach to overseeing large funds and asset managers in an effort ensure financial stability and prevent another global financial crisis.

The news conference will be webcast live and that webcast will be interactive, allowing reporters to pose questions in real time. Online access to the webcast will be available at http://www.visualwebcaster.com/medcraft.

IOSCO and other regulators have been looking at designated large funds and large asset managers as “SIFIs” – systemically important financial institutions. Such a designation would add new layers of regulation on those institutions, in theory to prevent one institution’s failure from adversely affecting other financial institutions.

But the financial stability debate has been driven largely by central banks and other banking regulators. Large numbers of domestic securities regulators, funds and asset managers have argued that the fund and asset management industries are fundamentally different than banks and did not contribute to the economic meltdown. They argue that regulating their industries like banks would do far more harm than good – and those arguments appear to be gaining traction, at least with IOSCO.

IOSCO has been in the forefront of global initiatives to head off another crisis. But now, half a decade later, IOSCO Chairman Medcraft says the international regulatory community may have gone too far in seeing problems and underestimating the effectiveness of existing regulatory tools, particularly in the capital markets.

Medcraft believes regulators should be focused on a policy agenda that support building the global economy – recognizing that risk-taking support wealth creation and economic growth. In his view, regulation should not stifle risk taking, or make it prohibitively expensive.

This NPC Newsmakers news conference is scheduled for Monday, June 22 at 10 a.m. in the club’s Zenger Room, on the 13th Floor of the National Press Building at 529 14th St., NW, Washington, D.C.

Like all Newsmakers events, this news conference is open to credentialed media and NPC members, free of charge. No advance registration is required.

Contact:
David Hodes, Newsmaker event host
202-596-5037 [email protected]