In May, I attended the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) AGM and Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland in my capacity as Chair of the International Council of Securities Associations (ICSA) and as President and CEO of the IIAC. Over 1,000 international delegates from the financial community came together to discuss developments in global capital markets and financial regulation.

I discuss some of the overarching themes of the conference in my June Letter from the President.

The increasing regulatory burden was front and centre at the conference. There is a general view that the large amount of legislation put in place following the financial crisis was rolled out in haste, and inevitably in silos. The European Commission has recognized that it is important to take stock and to understand better the overall implications, particularly as related to the interaction of different regulations and possible unintended consequences.

The pace of rule-making in Canada has also been unrelenting and most of this reform has taken place without cost-benefit analysis. Canadian regulators should follow the EU’s lead and undertake a similar assessment of recently implemented rules and regulations.  

My June Letter from the President is available here.