The Francophone Institute for Financial Regulation holds its annual meeting in Monaco - 2nd to 4th April 2008

On the initiative of the Financial Activities Auditing Committee (CCAF), the annual meeting of the IFREFI (Francophone Institute for Financial Regulation) was held in the Principality from 2nd to 4th April 2008.

Set up in 2002, the IFREFI groups together approximately twenty countries from Europe, French-speaking Africa and Quebec. The goal of the Institute is to strengthen cooperation and exchange between its members within the field of financial regulation, a burning issue in the light of the financial market crisis of the last few months.

The topics of the meeting (2-3 April) are chosen by the regulators themselves depending on the current needs and in consideration of the financial news. Therefore it made sense that this year information concerning group savings products and codes of good conduct in financial information matters should be given priority.

On 4th April, “Presidents’ Day” was held in the presence of H.S.H. Prince Albert II, who took part in the opening of the meeting. This was focused in particular on an analysis of the “subprime” crisis and potential regulatory solutions, bringing together (among others) the Presidents of the CCAF, Mr Christian de Boissieu and the Authority for the French Financial Markets, Mr Michel Prada.

Established as an independent administrative authority, following the adoption of new legal provisions on financial activities in September 2007, the Financial Activities Auditing Committee is entrusted with the following:
- giving a decision on requests for start-up funds and the opening of management companies, as well as issuing authorisations,
- monitoring the regularity of the transactions carried out by approved companies,
carrying out audits and putting a stop to any irregularities (if necessary, imposing administrative sanctions),
- cooperating with foreign counterparts in compliance with specific conditions and procedures.

President Christian de Boissieu points out that « the regulator does not act as a brake for the development of the market; on the contrary he is there to increase its security and consequently help Monaco compete as a financial market.”

As for the Secretary General of the CCAf, Jean Castellini, he believes that “with the steady growth of consultancy and management firms setting up over the last few years (41 at the end of February 2008), some of which are of high repute (Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and hedge funds such as SRM), on the one hand we need to ensure investors are given the best information possible on products available, and on the other hand, to promote efficient financial and operational risk control of the organisations supervised by the CCAF.”

With this in mind, it is therefore of key importance and pertinent for the Principality in terms of the future development of the financial management industry, that this major congress meets for the first time in Monaco in 2008.

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