Enhancing Global Financial Stability and Regulatory Reform
As members of the main committees and several working groups of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), Financial Stability Board (FSB) and Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems (CPSS), MAS continues to contribute actively to discussions on international regulatory reform. MAS co-chairs the BCBS Core Principles Group which is reviewing the Basel Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision. Drawing on the lessons learnt from the global financial crisis, the review examines the BCBS' guidance on supervisory mandates, powers, resources and independence for effective banking supervision. Besides participating at the FSB Plenary and its three Standing Committees, MAS also contributed to the FSB's work on promoting effective resolution regimes as a Steering Group member. The group held its first meeting in March 2011. In addition, we participated in the FSB workgroup on supervisory intensity and effectiveness, which was formed in Q2 2010, as well as the FSB compensation peer review team for 2011. We are also a member of the FSB consultative group involved in the preparation of a FSB report to G20 Leaders on options to advance consumer finance protection.
MAS is a member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). In June 2010, IOSCO adopted a revised set of Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation (IOSCO Principles). Following the adoption of the revised IOSCO Principles, MAS has, as a member of the IOSCO's Implementation Task Force (ITF), been actively involved in the work on revising the IOSCO's Methodology for Assessing Implementation of the IOSCO Principles. Other than the ITF, MAS is a member of the Asia-Pacific Regional Committee, the Standing Committee on the Regulation of Secondary Markets and the Standing Committee on the Regulation of Market Intermediaries. MAS was also admitted to the Standing Committee on Investment Management in December 2010.
MAS is a member of IOSCO Taskforce on over-the-counter (OTC) Derivatives Regulation, which was formed in October 2010 to follow up on the G20 and FSB's recommendations on OTC derivatives. In February 2011, the Taskforce completed and published its first report on trading of OTC derivatives. The report analyses the benefits, costs, and challenges associated with increasing exchange and electronic trading of OTC derivative products. It also contains recommendations to assist the transition of trading in standardised derivatives products from OTC venues onto exchanges and electronic trading platforms while preserving the efficacy of those transactions for counterparties.
MAS participates in the CPSS which discusses policies and develops standards for domestic, cross-border, multicurrency payment, settlement and clearing systems. MAS also participated actively in the CPSS and IOSCO joint review of the existing standards for financial market infrastructures, to strengthen the standards, and support the FSB's initiative to strengthen core financial infrastructures and markets. In March 2011, the CPSS and IOSCO issued for public consultation a consultative report ("Principles for financial market infrastructures") which contains a single, comprehensive set of principles designed to apply to all systemically important payment systems, central securities depositories, securities settlement systems, central counterparties and trade repositories (collectively "financial market infrastructures"). The new principles are designed to ensure that the essential infrastructure supporting global financial markets is more robust and better placed to withstand financial shocks. When finalised, the new principles will replace the three existing sets of CPSS and CPSS-IOSCO standards - the Core Principles for Systemically Impor tant Payment Systems (2001), the Recommendations for Securities Settlement Systems (2001), and the Recommendations for Central Counterparties (2004).
In addition, MAS chairs the Insurance Core Principles Coordination Group which sets out the supervisory and regulatory standards for all IAIS members. MAS was accepted as the 10th signatory to the IAIS Multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MMoU) on 24 June 2010. The MMoU provides a formal basis for cooperation and information sharing by defining a common set of principles and procedures for information exchange between signatory authorities regarding the supervision of insurance companies.
back to top