Egypt’s FRA Chairman elected as committee head at IOSCO

CAIRO – 24 May 2021: Egypt’s Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), Mohamed Omran, was elected as the Chairman of the Growth and Emerging Markets Committee-GEMC of the at the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) after competing with the candidate of Brazil in the elections voted by 91 member states of the committee who have the right to vote.

By assuming this new position, Egypt becomes Vice Chairman of the IOSCO for the first time in the history of the Egyptian capital market since its inception, which is more than 130 years old, according to a statement issued, Monday.

The Chairman of FRA also represents IOSCO in the plenary sessions of the Financial Stability Board (FSB). Omran has two deputies, one of whom is the First Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank, and the second deputy is a member of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Capital Markets Board.

Omran said that he pledges to continue the usual activity of the FRA within IOSCO, and to raise its performance to the level that achieves the aspirations of the Egyptian state in leadership at the regional and international level, as well as to achieve the hopes and aspirations of the member states of the Developing and Emerging Markets Committee, the most important and largest committee of the IOSCO.

He stressed that this achievement could not be achieved except for the position the Egyptian state occupies at the regional and international levels, and the election of the Egyptian watchdog - for the first time in the history of the capital market - represents a strong tribute and international appreciation for the role the Egyptian state plays in its contributions to supporting developing and emerging countries, and reflects the size of the international appreciation of reform and development measures, especially in developing the non-banking financial sector and developing its markets.

He noted that the Developing and Emerging Markets Committee is one of the largest committees of the IOSCO organization, and its members are more than 75 percent of the regular members of the IOSCO, and it includes the fastest growing economies in the world and 10 members of the G20.

Omran pointed out that the committee aims to promote the development of emerging stock and futures markets and increase their effectiveness through setting basic principles and standards, providing training programs and technical assistance to members and facilitating information exchange and transfer of technology and expertise.

The IOSCO principles for regulating the control of securities represent the technical basis and standards for the evaluation of the securities sector on which the financial sector evaluation programs of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank depend, after these standards were approved by the Group of Twenty and the Financial Stability Board.

It is considered the most important in the world in laying the foundations and rules for the functioning of financial markets and the standards that each country seeks to adhere to in order to ensure fairness, transparency, and efficiency of markets and manage the risks associated with them.

Egypt is one of the signatories to the multilateral memorandum of understanding adopted by IOSCO, which is considered a framework for international cooperation in the field of exchanging information related to combating violations of securities laws, and how to consult, cooperate and exchange information in order to tighten supervision of stock markets.

Egypt had retained membership in the organization’s board of directors for four consecutive terms, as it was elected for the first time in the organization’s history to membership in the board of directors for the 2014/2016 session.