The IFRS Foundation Trustees have announced a series of strategic initiatives designed to strengthen the organization’s long-term capability to serve global capital markets, including a five-year operating and financing plan for its standard-setting boards.
The approved five-year plan covers both the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). For the IASB, the plan focuses on building a more diversified and durable funding base while encouraging capital market participants who benefit from the standards to contribute to their maintenance. For the ISSB, whose standards are now used across more than 45 jurisdictions, funding has been secured through 2031 to support its transition towards a long-term, self-sustaining financial model.
As part of enhancing the ISSB’s multi-location framework, the Trustees announced the opening of a new ISSB office in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2027, which will serve as the seat of the board. The new location will operate alongside existing hubs in Beijing, Frankfurt, Montreal, and Tokyo, with Frankfurt remaining the primary center for EU engagement.
In addition, the Trustees published proposed amendments to the IFRS Foundation’s Constitution, open for public comment until 16 November 2026. The proposals formalize plans to gradually streamline the governance structure, reducing the size of both the IASB and ISSB to 10 members each from 2028 while preserving geographic and professional diversity.
The announcement comes alongside a leadership transition, following the appointments of Steven Maijoor as incoming Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, Sam Woods as Chair of the IASB, and Laura Forzani as Managing Director.
Commenting on the updates, Erkki Liikanen, Chair of the IFRS Foundation Trustees, stated that the five-year operating and financing plan ensures the Foundation and its boards remain equipped to deliver high-quality standards critical to global capital markets. He expressed gratitude to global funders, as well as Swiss authorities and private donors supporting the new Geneva base.
ISSB Chair Emmanuel Faber highlighted the strategic value of the new Swiss presence, noting that Geneva’s role as an international hub for sustainable finance makes it a natural ecosystem for the ISSB’s work. He added that amid rising sustainability risks, capital markets increasingly require a common global language for companies to communicate resilience to investors.
IASB Vice-Chair and Acting Chair Linda Mezon Hutter welcomed the clarity provided by the roadmap, explaining that the five-year plan offers resource certainty as the board delivers on its priorities and prepares for its future agenda under new leadership.
