Following the 2008 global crisis in exchanges around the world, the International Organisa-tion of Securities Com-missions (IOSCO), has said that trading of securities has become more dispersed among exchanges even as the market has become more competitive.

The international regulatory body said with exchanges and other trading venues aggres-sively competing for order flow by offering innovative order types, new data, products and other services with fees charged or rebates provided by the markets have been achieved.

IOSCO made this remark last week in its Consultation Report on “Technological Challen-ges to Effective Market Surveillance: Issues and Regulatory Tools,” obtain-ed by the Nigerian Tribune.

The Consultation Report was a response to a G20 mandate arising from the action plan it launched in 2010 to achieve strong, sustain-able and balanced economic growth.

The G20’s commitment had also called for significant policy actions in several areas, including a far-reaching reform of the financial sector. With the objective of enhan-cing the stability of financial markets, the G20 called on IOSCO to develop recommenda-tions to promote market integrity and efficiency, and mitigate the risks posed to the financial system by the latest technological develop-ments.

Further in the report, IOSCO said the securities markets have experienced a dynamic transformation in recent years. “Rapid technological advances and regulatory developments have produced fundamental changes in the structure of securities markets, the types of market participants, the trading strategies employed, the increase in the speed of trading and the array of products traded.