The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is hosting a joint training programme of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) over two days through the Regional Centre for Sustainable Finance to encourage sustainable financing.
More specifically, the programme will discuss fostering sustainability in non-banking financial activities, develop the capabilities of workers in financing activities to implement international sustainability standards, communicate the associated disclosure requirements that are binding on companies to participating specialists and managers responsible for setting sustainable financing policies and regulations for more than 40 countries.
This comes within the framework of the preparations made by Egyptian state agencies to face the challenges of climate change and the arrangements for hosting the upcoming UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27), along with Egypt’s 2030 Vision for sustainable development.
The programme also aims to familiarise participants from the various regulatory bodies with the international standards for ISSB sustainability and the role of the IOSCO member securities regulators in setting the regulatory requirements for issuing corporate disclosure reports on sustainability, identifying the essence of the ISSB sustainability disclosure standards, as well as exchanging experiences with the securities regulators who have already adopted sustainability disclosures in their markets.
The programme coincides with Egypt — which was represented by Chairperson of the FRA Mohamed Farid — winning the position of Chairperson of the Growth and Emerging Markets Committee (GEMC) of the IOSCO from 2022 to 2024, which confirmed the confidence of the global community in Egypt’s ability to adopt and implement policies to develop financial markets globally.
For his part, Farid said he participated in the activities of a high-level virtual round-table session in the presence of the heads and members of the boards of directors of securities regulators from around the world towards sustainability in various financial markets based on a set of agreed standards that allow a degree of consistent and standardised sustainability disclosures across global markets.
The IOSCO considers sustainable finance among its main priorities, as the organisation includes in its membership about 95% of the observers of stock exchanges in the world.
Farid explained that the programme aims to help the financial market regulators adopt and implement the ISSB standards for disclosure of corporate sustainability, noting that the joint training programme for experts and specialists and the previous round table reflects the keenness and interest of the international organisation in qualifying its members — especially those from emerging markets — and introducing them to all the standards issued by the ISSB, urging them to adopt and implement them in order to provide sustainable development that helps protect the environment and achieve social justice in the distribution of incomes, poverty reduction, and gender equality.
Farid added that Egypt is keen to support ways and mechanisms that achieve sustainable development by benefiting from all international experiences related to how to prepare and submit climate-related disclosures, as well as closely identifying the role of financial market regulators in applying sustainability disclosure standards in accordance with international standards and practices, which helps to stabilise the markets and enhance the protection of dealers and investors.
