The IOSCO Research Department is conducting research and analysis around IOSCO Principles 6 (on systemic risk) and 7 (reviewing the perimeter of regulation). To support these efforts, the IOSCO Research Department is undertaking a number of information gathering exercises including extensive market intelligence in financial centres; risk roundtables with prominent members of industry and regulators; data gathering and analysis; the construction of quantitative risk indicators; a survey on emerging risks to regulators, academics and market participants; and review of the current literature on risks by experts.

This holistic approach to risk identification is important in order to capture those potential risks that may not be apparent in the available data (i.e. not necessarily quantifiable), or which may be currently seen as outside the perimeter of securities market regulation, but nonetheless significant.

Two potential areas of financial innovation that have seen strong growth in recent years are peer-to-peer lending and equity crowd-funding. These industries affect a number of key global initiatives outlined by IOSCO and the G20. These include the diversification and broadening of markets; mechanisms aiding in the long-term financing of the real economy; and the promotion of wider stability within the financial system.

As a first step towards engaging with this issue, the IOSCO Research Department, has undertaken a review of these practices and how they might relate to IOSCO, its members and their regulatory remit and the wider real economy. This IOSCO Staff Working Paper “Crowd-funding: An Infant Industry Growing Fast” presents a review of financial return crowd-funding, as well as key insights on the main implications for users. It is the first publication of its kind in tying together a global overview of the industry along with a mapping exercise of the global regulatory landscape.