SEC hosts APEC seminar on ‘Regulation and Supervision of Derivatives Markets’

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Sri Lanka (SEC) hosted the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Financial Regulators Training Initiative (FRTI) regional seminar on ‘Regulation and Supervision of Derivatives Markets’ from 8 to 12 October 2012 at Hilton, Colombo.

This seminar was ideal for those regulatory regimes that are considering launching a derivatives market or for those who needed a broader understanding of the complete derivatives transaction chain.

The opening remarks were delivered by Dr. Nalaka Godahewa, Chairman, SEC whilst Prof. Hareendra Dissabandara, Acting Director General, SEC, spoke on ‘Facilitating the introduction of derivatives to the Sri Lankan capital market.’ The closing remarks were delivered by Dhammika Perera, Deputy Director General, SEC.

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

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been acting as the Secretariat to the FRTI and financially supporting its training activities with the objectives of strengthening content management of international training programs and developing training programs for junior and mid level supervisors and regulators.

The agenda for the seminar covered a wide range of topics, i.e. regulation and supervision of exchange –traded and OTC derivative market transactions, new derivative regulatory reforms arising from the global financial crisis, trading mechanisms, supervision and risk management, surveillance and clearing.

The seminar was especially relevant to SEC Sri Lanka since the SEC is planning to facilitate launching of derivatives in the near future. Many local participants as well as regional participants from Cambodia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Nepal, Republic of Korea, Indonesia, People’s Republic of China and Taipei attended the seminar.

 The resource personnel comprised of Shashi Valsakumar, Deputy General Manager, Integrated Surveillance Department, Securities and Exchange Board of India, Sangho Ha Vice President, Market Oversight Coordination, Korea Exchange and Bronwyn Hill, Senior Manager, Market and Participant Supervision, Australian Securities and Investments Commission.