Tehran, YJC. Official says that the International Organization of Securities Commissions has refused to take Iran as member on political pretexts.
The Chairman of the Stock
Exchange Organization Ali Salehabadi said in an interview with Fars regarding
the reasons why Iran has not become a member of the International Organization
of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) "In 2006 we passed a bill where we decided to
become a member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions.”
"We filled a questionnaire right
away,” he added "and sent it to the Organization. Then they told us that we
needed an international consultant. So we employed an international consultant
who really helped the Stock Exchange a lot for it to reach the standards. Legislative
shortcomings were also resolved at the same time. The development of new
financial instruments and institutions act was also passed accordingly.”
Salehabadi further said "The
Iranian case was investigated by a workgroup consisting of the UK, South
Africa, and Greece, headed by Canada. We would always tell the workgroup that
the Stock Exchange Organization was a non-governmental and totally expert
organization.”
He said that at the end of
the investigations at 2011, the workgroup considered the Iranian Stock Exchange
as meeting the standards for membership in the IOSCO.
Then he added "I went to
Canada as an IOSCO observer and brought up the issue of Iran’s membership in the
Organization with the Secretary General, asking why it would not be finalized. Then
the Secretary General said that 50 of the members of the organization did not
meet the required standards. After that we received a letter in which they had
considered our membership impossible due to ‘political reasons’; they had
asserted in the letter that they could not accept us due to political reasons.”