SEC hosts APEC FRTI regional seminar on ‘Investor and Market Intermediary Education’

Some of the event's participants                

For the fifth consecutive time the Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Financial Regulators Training Initiative (FRTI) regional seminar. 

This year the seminar was on ‘Investor and Market Intermediary Education’ from 7-11 December at the Galle Face Hotel, Colombo. 

The seminar was designed for individuals who are responsible for or have an interest in developing financial literacy and education programs for investors, market intermediaries/financial advisors and company directors.

The Chief Guest at the event, M.I.M Rafeek, Secretary, Ministry of National Policies and Economic Affairs, remarked that “most Sri Lankans have a sound knowledge of banking but they still lack a proper understanding of the capital market and its investment products” and also highlighted the importance of promoting a long-term investment culture which will lead to improvements in the domestic investor base. 

SEC Director General Vajira Wijegunawardane, addressing the gathering, mentioned that “investor education is an essential proactive regulatory tool for empowering investors” and that educated investors will lead to a reduction in the cost of regulation. ADB Sri Lanka Resident Mission Country Director Sri Widowati also addressed the seminar.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Finance Ministers endorsed the establishment of the Financial Regulators Training Initiative (FRTI) to enhance training efforts for Financial Regulators at the national and regional levels. 

The APEC FRTI has been very successfully providing a sustainable, efficient, cost-effective training structure for junior and mid-level staff of financial supervisory and regulatory agencies and stock and derivative exchanges. The seminar covered four important areas of financial market education – financial literacy, investor education, building capacity through financial market intermediary/financial advisor education and using a corporate governance framework to strengthen the practices of company directors and market intermediary companies.

Participants from 13 countries attended the seminar and this recorded the highest number of foreign participants that have attended an APEC seminar in Sri Lanka so far. Participants from local regulatory organisations as well as 48 regional participants from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Korea, Maldives, Nepal, Philippines, Taipei and Thailand attended the seminar.

The resource personnel comprised Peter Chandler, Director, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) USA, Azman Hisham Bin Che Doi, Chief Executive Officer, Securities Industry Development Corporation Malaysia (SIDC) and Robert Bruce Drake, Chief Executive Officer, Smart Steps Australia.