The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has recently released a series of important reports addressing key areas of global market functioning and regulatory development. These publications—spanning valuation practices for collective investment schemes, the tokenization of financial assets, and transparency within the single-name credit default swaps market—reflect IOSCO’s continued commitment to strengthening market integrity, enhancing investor protection and responding proactively to evolving market structures.
Each report provides valuable insights relevant to regulators, market participants and stakeholders across South Africa’s financial markets. Below is a high-level introduction to each topic, with links to the full reports for further reading.
1. Valuation Practices for Collective Investment Schemes
IOSCO’s Consultation Report on Valuing Collective Investment Schemes proposes updated recommendations to modernise its existing valuation principles in light of significant market developments since 2007 and 2013. With CISs increasingly exposed to less liquid and alternative assets—and retail participation growing—robust valuation practices remain essential to ensuring accurate NAV calculations, fair investor outcomes, and overall confidence in the asset management ecosystem.
The consultation seeks feedback on 13 updated recommendations covering governance, oversight, conflicts of interest, stressed-market conditions, third-party service providers, stale prices and record-keeping.
Read the full article here.
2. Tokenization of Financial Assets
In its Final Report on the Tokenization of Financial Assets, IOSCO explores how distributed ledger technology (DLT) is being adopted across capital markets and the implications for regulatory oversight. While tokenization offers potential efficiency gains—such as faster settlement and improved collateral mobility—it also introduces new operational, legal and cyber risks that regulators must consider.
The report highlights the early but growing interest in tokenized instruments and provides a framework for members to assess risks, market integrity and investor protection concerns, aligned with IOSCO’s broader policy recommendations for crypto-asset and DeFi markets.
Read the full article here.
3. Transparency in the Single-Name Credit Default Swaps Market
IOSCO’s Final Report on the Single-Name Credit Default Swaps Market examines lessons from the 2023 banking sector stresses, focusing on market structure, liquidity and transparency. The analysis—developed alongside industry input and regulatory review—finds that the single-name CDS market remains highly illiquid, concentrated among few intermediaries, and currently characterized by limited post-trade transparency.
The report explores potential measures to enhance transparency and evaluates the benefits and potential risks of such reforms. IOSCO will continue monitoring market developments to support greater resilience and stability in global derivatives markets.
Read the full article here.
