ISLAMABAD, Feb 9: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Chairman Dr Tariq Hassan has stressed the need of proper legislation to curb fraud, market manipulation , insider trading and other illegal conduct "which can and does occur in cross-border operations of the securities firms."

Participating in deliberations of the Emerging Markets Committee (EMC) Advisory Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) at Madrid, Dr Hassan said such activities might creep more and more frequently into a global market aided by telecommunications, says an SECP press release issued here on Monday.

"Legislation and enforcement powers of the regulator should be sufficient to ensure that it can be effective in cases of cross-border conduct," he stressed. As chairman of the EMC Working Group (WG-3), Dr Hassan told the EMC Advisory Board on the activities of his group that "cross-border activities of securities firms in emerging markets had been adopted as the new mandate in view of the keen interest expressed by most of the members.

The SECP chief also held a meeting of the core group comprising, in addition to the SECP of Pakistan, the Securities Commissions of India, Jordan, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Africa and Turkey.

During discussions about the objective behind the mandate, Dr Hassan stressed that the EMC regulators must be in a position to assess the nature of cross-border transactions and equipped to take action.

In this regard, cross-jurisdictional cooperation and information sharing was essential to ensure domestic stability and reduction of systemic risk, Dr Hassan added.

He also discussed, at length, the methodology to be adopted. The members of the core group agreed, in principle, to the approach outlined by the SECP chairman, which included external as well as desk research, survey questionnaires, leading up to consultation on the draft report so prepared and then presentation of the final report to the EMC Advisory Board.

The meeting also discussed the possibility of holding a seminar under the auspices of the SECP to present the report once approved by the EMC Advisory Board.