Singapore to chair the IOSCO Asia-Pacific Regional Committee

Singapore, 21 May 2004...The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today announced that Mr Koh Yong Guan, Managing Director, MAS has been elected as Chair of the Asia Pacific Regional Committee (APRC) of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) for a period of two years.   The appointment was first announced at the 2004 IOSCO Annual Conference held in Jordan from 17 - 20 May. 

2  The APRC comprises 25 members representing securities regulators from the Asia-Pacific jurisdictions. As Chair of the APRC, Mr Koh's role is to create a conducive environment for promoting sound securities regulation consistently across the region through the sharing of views and information. 

3  Mr Koh will also be a member of the Executive Committee of IOSCO. 

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Notes to Editor:

1.  Other members of the APRC include securities regulators from Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Kyrgyz Republic, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam. 

2.  Established in 1983, IOSCO is today the world's most important international cooperative forum for securities regulatory agencies, and is recognised as one of the world's key international standard setting bodies. 

3.  Members of IOSCO aim to cooperate and promote high standards of regulation in order to maintain just, efficient and sound markets; exchange information on their respective experiences in order to promote the development of domestic markets; unite their efforts to establish standards and an effective surveillance of international securities transactions; and provide mutual assistance to promote the integrity of the markets by a rigorous application of the standards and by effective enforcement against offences.  The IOSCO Executive Committee meets periodically and, subject to the By-Laws of IOSCO, makes all the key decisions and undertakes all actions necessary to achieve these objectives.

4.  Among the recent key achievements of IOSCO is the adoption in 1998 of a comprehensive set of Objectives and Principles of Securities Regulation (IOSCO Principles) recognised today by the world financial community as international benchmarks for all markets. 

5.  Please refer to the following link for the Final Communique of the 29th IOSCO Annual Conference.