Contributing to international regulatory policymaking

The SC is actively involved in various international fora including among others, the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

1. International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO)

The SC has established a strong network internationally with foreign policy makers, regulatory counterparts, multilateral organisations and market participants through various international fora. This, among others, is driven by the need to ensure that regulatory and market developments in the Malaysian capital market are closely aligned with international best practices and standards and the Malaysian capital market remains competitive and relevant.

The SC continues to demonstrate its commitment to global regulatory policy making and international standard-setting by being actively involved in the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), the leading international standard-setter for securities regulation. IOSCO’s membership regulates more than 95% of the world’s capital markets in approximately 130 jurisdictions.

The SC has been at the forefront of global regulatory discussions and policymaking through various leadership positions, which enables the organisation to gain relevant insights into emerging regulatory issues impacting global capital markets while contributing to international thought leadership. The SC actively contributes through leadership positions in IOSCO which include:

IOSCO Board member 2012 to present (previously known as IOSCO Executive Committee where SC was a member from 1996-1999; 2000-2004)
IOSCO Board Vice Chair (2013-2018)
IOSCO Asia Pacific Regional Committee (Chair: 2000 – 2004); (Asia Pacific Representative to the IOSCO Board: 2020-present)
IOSCO APRC SME Financing Working Group (Chair: 2023-2024)
IOSCO Growth and Emerging Markets Committee (Chair: 2013 – 2018; Chair: 1996 – 1999; Vice Chair: 2008 – 2012, Vice Chair 2019 – 2020)
IOSCO Emerging Markets Committee Working Group on Secondary Market Regulations (Chair: 1994 – 2013)
IOSCO Board Task Force on Long-Term Financing (Co-Chair: 2013 – 2014)
IOSCO Executive Committee Task Force on Islamic Capital Markets (Chair: 2002 – 2004)

These leadership position enables the SC to also raise issues of concern to the Malaysian capital market and other emerging markets and ensure there is an appreciation of these issues in the development of international policy recommendations.

The SC is also active member of various IOSCO Task Forces, Policy Committees, Working Groups and Networks:

Board-level Sustainable Finance Task Force and relevant work streams e.g. Corporate Reporting, Assurance, Transition Plans and Green Finance
APRC Sustainable Finance Working Group
Board-level Fintech Task Force and relevant workstreams e.g. Crypto and Digital Assets, Artificial Intelligence, Tokenisation
APRC Fintech Working Group
APRC Suptech/Regtech Working Group
Policy Committee on Regulation of Secondary Markets
Policy Committee on Retail Investors
Policy Committee on Emerging Risks
Assessment Committee
Primary Markets Network
Anti Money Laundering Network

Through its involvement in these Task Forces, Policy Committees and Working Groups, the SC is able to gain insights and tap on the experience and expertise of other markets, as well as to profile its domestic developmental and regulatory efforts in relevant areas.

2. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation established in 1961 with 34 member countries. The objective of the OECD is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of the world population.

The Committee meets twice a year and participation is exclusive to OECD member countries and invited non-member countries. The SC also participates and provides technical input to the OECD’s work on Corporate Governance, including through the OECD Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance that is held annually.

3. Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an inter-governmental body established in 1989 by the Ministers of its member jurisdictions. The objectives of the FATF are to set standards and promote effective implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures for combating money laundering, terrorist financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

As a FATF and the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) member, Malaysia is recognised as a jurisdiction being at the core of global efforts to combat money laundering and terrorist financing. To this end, the SC has adopted the implementation of the international standards set by FATF via SC’s Guidelines on Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing for Capital Market Intermediaries and the Guidelines on Implementation of Targeted Financial Sanctions Relating to Proliferation Financing for Capital Market Intermediaries.

In 2014, FATF and APG conducted a joint assessment of Malaysia's anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing (AML/CFT) system. The assessment is a comprehensive review of the effectiveness of Malaysia's AML/CFT system and its level of compliance with the FATF Recommendations. Overall, Malaysia has a robust legal AML/CFT framework with generally well-developed and implemented policies. The report is available here.