Asia Pacific regulators to meet in Wellington next month Chairmen and enforcement directors from securities regulators from the Asia Pacific region will hold their 2004 annual meeting in Wellington from 19-21 February. The group is one of five regions of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO). It is the first time an IOSCO meeting has been held in New Zealand. The IOSCO regional meetings are held to further the aims of IOSCO including co-operation to promote high standards of regulation to maintain just, efficient and sound securities markets; exchange of information on regulators' respective experiences to help develop domestic markets; united efforts to establish standards and effective surveillance of international securities transactions; mutual assistance to promote the integrity of the markets by a rigorous application of the standards and by effective enforcement of the law. The meeting will be chaired by Ali Abdul Kadir, Datuk, of the Securities Commission of Malaysia. The Minister of Commerce, Hon Lianne Dalziel, will welcome the visitors to New Zealand at a Parliamentary reception on 19 February. Opportunity to hear US SEC Commissioner Commissioner Roel Campos of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission will give a guest lecture in Wellington at 4pm on 19 February 2004. Commissioner Campos will speak on "Sarbanes Oxley and the regulatory environment in the United States". Seats for the Roel Campos lecture are available on a first come, first served basis, by phoning Nicola Ingham on (04) 472 9830. There is no charge. ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: Directors and officers disclosure Obligations of issuers Asia Pacific regulators meet in Wellington Cold callers still plague Kiwis   We are moving! See page 4 New Zealand shapes up New Zealand has been given a good report by the international Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) team that carried out a very intensive inspection in November 2003. "In terms of the short-term stability of the financial system, we found that New Zealand has a very robust system," the mission chief, Anne-Marie Gulde, told The Independent. The FSAP mission assessed New Zealand's financial regulatory arrangements and compliance with international standards and codes. Ms Gulde, who is head of the International Monetary Fund's Monetary and Financial Systems Department, met with the Minister of Finance and the Minister of Commerce to present the preliminary findings. Details of the report will not be known till later in 2004. The team of ten experts had a heavy schedule of work with some 120 meetings taking place in 19 days. They met with relevant government authorities and regulatory agencies, the NZX and NZFOE, and market participants and industry representatives in Wellington and Auckland. The team looked at our securities markets and infrastructure to see how well New Zealand stacks up against the core principles of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions. Ms Gulde said that while she was impressed with the progress made by Securities Commission chairman Jane Diplock in a fairly short space of time, more needs to be done. "We did not expect New Zealand would be compliant with all of those IOSCO core principles. We found that there were some areas that would (continued page 2)

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THE BULLETIN January 2004

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