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5 J. Int'l Banking Reg. 6 (2003-2004)

handle is hein.journals/jlbkrg5 and id is 1 raw text is: Editorial
The Joint Forum: Initiatives by the BCBS,
IAIS and IOSCO to combat money
laundering and the financing of terrorism

A process of deregulation and the liberali-
sation of the financial markets over the last
several decades has resulted in the growing
emergence of financial conglomerates. This
period saw the initial dismantlement of
specialisation that distinguished the various
markets and their participants. Financial
conglomerates provide a combination of
banking, insurance and securities business
within a single group. The growth in the
number of financial conglomerates has
increased the interdependency of the finan-
cial system in both domestic and interna-
tional contexts. A financial conglomerate
can jointly market different financial pro-
ducts within a core portfolio of activities at
domestic and international level and easily
distribute products through their business
network. The risks a financial conglomer-
ate pose are not new, but a more coordi-
nated approach to the supervision of their
activities between the respective regulators
is considered necessary to reduce any dispa-
rities in their supervision. A large propor-
tion of the work so far has centred on
prudential regulation and supervision of
financial conglomerates and especially on
capital requirements and the concentration
of risk across their business activities.
A significant proportion of the work on
financial conglomerates has been underta-
ken by the Joint Forum, a group of techni-
cal experts, set up in 1996 to continue the
work   of the Tripartite Group     whose
responsibility was to examine supervisory
issues governing those institutions. The

Joint Forum has, inter alia, a membership
down from the following international
supervisory bodies: the Basel Committee
on Banking Supervision (BCBS), the Inter-
national Organisation of Securities Com-
missions (IOSCO) and the International
Association  of   Insurance   Supervisors
(IAIS). Its mandate is to investigate specific
issues governing each sector of the financial
system and the unique risks posed by finan-
cial conglomerates. The Joint Forum is also
given a wide agenda to research issues of
common interest to the three parent com-
mittees. First, it is required  to  study
common issues, including risk manage-
ment, corporate governance and different
approaches to regulation and supervision.
Secondly, it has a responsibility to develop
guidance and principles of best practice
that govern   risk  and  implications of
extreme exogenous shocks within the regu-
lated sectors. Thirdly, it is required to set
up   gateways for   sharing  information
between the respective regulators and to
prescribe principles of best practice for the
supervision of financial conglomerates.
In the 21st century, a more pressing con-
cern has been initiatives by the various
international supervisory standard setters to
combat money laundering and the finan-
cing of terrorism. In the Joint Forum's
most recent publication the vulnerability of
financial conglomerates is highlighted as
well as the    inconsistencies that exist
between the regulated sectors and the work
done so   far to   reduce the disparities

Journal of International Banking
Regulation, Vol. 5, No. 1,
2003, pp. 6-8
© Henry Stewart Publications,
1358-1988

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