New market risks loom after tackling last crisis: global watchdog

LONDON (Reuters) - Ten years after the start of the financial crisis, regulators face new, unregulated risks they must tackle, a top markets regulator said on Tuesday in a pointer to future rulemaking.

Ashley Alder, chair of the International Organization of Securities Commissions or IOSCO, an umbrella body for securities watchdogs from across the world, said reforms since the crisis have made banks and markets safer, but don't help much against cyber and other "operational" risks.

"These technology risks are now the dominant regulatory concern," Alder told a conference in Paris.

There was a proliferation of standards around dealing with cyber risks and differences in regulatory approaches to handling data.

The use of a relatively limited number of outside technology firms to carry out core operations for financial services companies was also a concern.

"They are unregulated," Alder said.

"There are a host of new risks that we need to get on top of."

Alder, who also heads Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission watchdog, said there has been talk of a regulatory "rollback", triggered in part by U.S. President Donald Trump telling U.S. regulators to scrap rules that stop banks lending.

So far, there is no sign of any major U.S. disengagement from global rulemaking, Alder said.

"I don't really see it," Alder said. "It's more about adjustments... It's not the end of international cooperation, far from it."

(Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Adrian Croft)