IFRS Foundation Trustees meet in Latin America

• This week the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation are meeting in Panama for the first time
• The Foundation is responsible for developing high-quality, understandable, enforceable and globally accepted accounting and sustainability disclosure standards
• Former Vice President of Panama Isabel Saint Malo, a Trustee of the IFRS Foundation, welcomes colleagues to Panama City

Panama is currently hosting the Trustees of the IFRS Foundation for the first time. The Foundation is responsible for delivering high-quality, global accounting and sustainability standards that result in corporate information that informs investment decisions. Its work contributes towards efficient and resilient capital markets.

Latin America is considered a region of key importance to the Foundation. Signifying its global remit, the Trustees of the Foundation meet three times per year, in different locations. Panama City has been chosen for the final meeting of 2023.

Dr Federico Alfaro, Minister of Commerce and Industry of the Republic of Panama, addressed the Trustees and Latin American companies, investors and regulators at a breakfast event organised jointly with the Inter-American Development Bank and the Latin American Stock Exchange on 17 October in conjunction with the Trustees meeting.

The Trustees and members of the Foundation’s two standard-setting boards, the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), are meeting with representatives of local institutions and stakeholders linked to the area of accounting and sustainability reporting, including the Ministry of Finance and Panamanian Banking Association, the Latin American Stock Exchange, the Inter-American Development Bank and the Association of Supervisors of Banks of the Americas.

The timely meetings take place in the week leading up to Latin America and the Caribbean Climate Week, where representatives of the IFRS Foundation and ISSB will participate.

Coinciding with the Trustees meeting, the Superintendency of Banks of Panamá have expressed its support for the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) work.

Chair of the Trustees, Erkki Liikanen, said:

Since 2001, the IFRS Foundation has transformed the global landscape of financial information by introducing IFRS Accounting Standards. They are fully or partially applied in over 140 jurisdictions. Today we can say that commitments made at COP26 in Glasgow have been implemented in full. The ISSB has been established, the standard-setting organisations have been consolidated and the first two ISSB Standards have been issued to enable investors to access globally comparable, accurate and decision-useful sustainability information. We are pleased to be working with jurisdictions across Latin America as they consider introducing sustainability disclosure requirements.

Isabel Saint Malo, the former Vice President of Panama, was appointed a Trustee of the IFRS Foundation last year. She said:

Our purpose is to empower people with the right information to support better economic and investment decision-making. I am delighted to welcome my fellow Trustees of the IFRS Foundation to Panama, which as we know is home to the world’s second largest free trade zone and a strategically vital global trading hub in the Panama Canal.

Hector Alexander, Minister of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Panama, said:

Panama must open its agenda now, and take the necessary steps to give visibility and perspective to greater sustainability and to encourage economic sectors whose market share has declined. We welcome the ISSB Standards as the route towards that direction.

Olga Cantillo, Executive Vice President and CEO of Latinex, said:

The ISSB Standards provide listed companies on stock exchanges with essential tools to effectively prepare ESG disclosure reports, mitigate greenwashing, and offer investors the vital information necessary to make responsible investments decisions. We welcome the standards and acknowledge the commendable efforts of IFRS Foundation in their development and implementation.