Key points
In an address to the IOSCO Presidents Committee, FINMA Chair Marlene Amstad explained how financial market supervisory authorities can benefit from advances in technology, make active use of new supervisory instruments and strengthen international cooperation. She provided an insight into the strategic significance of SupTech and the central role of cross-border cooperation in this area.
SupTech – the use of new technologies such as artificial intelligence in financial market supervision – is gaining importance throughout the world. These digital tools enable supervisory authorities to identify risks at an earlier stage, analyse data more efficiently and exercise their supervisory activities in a more targeted manner. IOSCO, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, is the central international body for cooperation and the coordination of securities supervision at the global level.
Several high-profile meetings have been held since 2023 under the direction of FINMA in collaboration with IOSCO. The members of the IOSCO Board have engaged in dialogue with organisations including the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. On the basis of this strategic dialogue, FINMA conducted a global survey together with IOSCO at the beginning of 2025 among securities commissions on the use of SupTech. The members of IOSCO regulate over 95% of the global securities market in more than 130 jurisdictions. Three core messages emerged from the results:
a) SupTech is increasingly gaining importance across the world. The vast majority of supervisory authorities canvassed reported a growing number of SupTech applications. It is noticeable that the benefits are particularly highly valued by smaller authorities and in growth and emerging markets. The results suggest that technological solutions are able to help reduce existing differences in supervisory capacities.
b) As well as the increase in efficiency and effectiveness, the use of SupTech is increasingly focusing on a more precise and comprehensive analysis. The use of new technologies is currently targeted primarily at making better use of existing personnel capacities and more efficient use of limited resources. At the same time, there is a growing aspiration to gain new supervisory insights through SupTech that would not be possible or not be possible at this speed or depth without technological support. Examples of this include the automated monitoring of trading activities in order to detect market manipulation and insider trading at an early stage and the identification of irregularities in large quantities of data that point to systemic risks or attempted fraud. The analysis of social media data and message streams also plays a role for monitoring potential risks and sentiment changes on the capital market in real time.
Interestingly, the easier availability of new technologies in recent years is not a decisive reason for the increased use of SupTech by supervisory authorities.
c) SupTech is used by the members of IOSCO particularly in the areas of investor protection and securities supervision. The use of SupTech for monitoring digital assets and cryptocurrencies is currently still at a comparatively low level. At the same time, the members of IOSCO see the greatest potential for more use in the years to come precisely in this area.
The survey results underline the crucial importance of ongoing international cooperation in the area of SupTech in order to gain insights together on the basis of specific applications. FINMA remains committed to promoting this issue within and beyond IOSCO.
