Remember the Task Force on the Subprime Crisis, set up in Tokyo last November? No, we couldn’t either.
We don’t mean governor Eliot Spitzer’s Halt Abusive Lending Transactions Task Force. And we certainly don’t mean the ambulance-chasing affair set up by American law firm Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell, Berkowitz & Whoever. (Pitch: “Would it come to trial, calm, confident counsel prevails. Our focus: high resolution.”)
We are talking about the dedicated subprime task force, launched by the International Organisation of Securities Commissions on November 8, to review the issues facing securities regulators following recent events in the global credit markets.
IOSCO, of course, “is recognized as the international standard setter for securities markets.” Aside from subprime, the body already has separate task forces working on the areas of corporate governance, credit rating agencies, private equity and audit services.
Now, this time out of Amsterdam, the technical committee of IOSCO, which appears to be headquartered in Madrid, has met to review how the subprime task force is getting along.
The answer seems to be fine:
The Technical Committee outlines several key steps that can be taken by market participants to help restore confidence in the operation of the market:
Financial institutions are encouraged to enhance the information available to the primary market for structured finance instruments;
Market participants should cooperate to identify information that would be relevant and useful in achieving an appropriate level of transparency in the secondary market;
Financial institutions should make accurate and complete disclosure of the size and the level of their exposures related to structured finance to the market;
Institutional investors and asset managers are encouraged to develop and undertake strict due diligence processes in their assessment prior to any investment into complex, structured products.
Which world capital has been chosen for the delivery of a final statement of the bleedin’ obvious remains to be seen. The report is due in May.