The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) launched its third annual World Investor Week (WIW) following its success in previous years at attracting more than one thousand financial organizations to showcase their initiatives for promoting investor education and protection across the globe. From 30 September to 6 October 2019, securities regulators, stock exchanges, international organizations, investor associations and other stakeholders from almost 90 countries offered an array of activities to increase awareness of investor education and protection in their jurisdictions.
Activities range from workshops and conferences to local/national investor education campaigns, games and contests and many of these events will continue throughout the rest of the year. In addition to highlighting the importance of investor education and protection, a key objective of the WIW is to foster learning opportunities for investors – a particularly important goal in the current context of rapid technological innovation and increasingly interconnected financial markets. Indeed, this year´s WIW not only seeks to promote the basics of smart investing but also to ensure that retail investors understand the risks associated with online investing, digital assets and initial coin offerings.