FLASHNEWS:

Chairman SECP, Aamir Khan, along with his team visits OICCI

Karachi, September 29, 2022 (PPI-OT):Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Aamir Khan, along with his team visited Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) on September 28, 2022, to have an interactive session with the members. Amir Paracha, Vice President OICCI, Rehan Sheikh, member managing committee OICCI, and M. Abdul Aleem, CE/Secretary General welcomed the guests.

Abdul Aleem presented a brief introduction of the OICCI as the oldest and largest chamber in Pakistan, in terms of economic contributions. OICCI being the collective body of top tier 200+ foreign investors roughly contribute around a third of total tax revenue collection in the country. OICCI members, span over 14 major sectors of economy and hail from 31 countries. M. Abdul Aleem also highlighted the research profile, advocacy activities of the chamber and the top five pain points of foreign investors. Following matters were raised and discussed during the interactive session:

Concerns of breach of statutory deadline for payment of dividend due to State Bank of Pakistan curb on dividend remittance in view of the recent restrictive measures.

The issue of unclaimed dividends as the proposed ‘Companies Unclaimed Instruments and Dividend and Insurance benefits and Investors Education Account’ (Account) has yet to be established with the SBP or NBP as contemplated by Section 244(3) of the Act.

SECP e-portal issues related to submitting Form 29 and other documents, inaccessibility of concerned officers when some clarity is required, email alerts not being received, limited attachment size, and short login time, etc.

Over documentation – companies have to file multiple copies of same forms in multiple formats to different offices of SECP/PSX which is time consuming.

Security clearance from the ministry of interior whenever there is a change in the Board of Directors is tedious and long drawn process. As per members’ understanding and in view of S. 461 of the Companies Act (amendment) 2017, this should now be granted by SECP.

Revisit the procedure for issuance of Shariah Compliance Certificates as at present, there is very limited market for Islamic Commercial Paper (ICP).

Listing of debt securities is a tedious and time taking process which needs to be revisited.

Aamir Khan briefed the participants on the key initiatives taken by SECP to streamline the regulator’s work, improve enforcement, develop markets, and promote financial inclusion. While responding to the questions, the Chairman shared that waiver in statutory deadline can be requested from SECP by the individual company which is decided on merit basis, the e-portal is being revamped and the existing system will be replaced with a new in coming year which will resolve these issues.

The Shariah Board is set up at SECP which is working on the regulations related to Islamic products and therefore, this will also be resolved in near future. On matters related to other institutions, such as Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) and State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), he assured members that these will be discussed and resolved collectively. The Chairman reiterated that the doors of SECP are open for the corporations and offered his full support to resolve the issues of business community.

Concluding the session, M Abdul Aleem shared that according to members’ feedback, SECP is one of the most supporting regulatory bodies in Pakistan. Amir Paracha thanked the Chairman and his team for having the interactive session with our members which will help ease the concerns of the business community and improve the ease of doing business in Pakistan.

For more information, contact:
Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI)
Chamber of Commerce Building, Talpur Road, P.O. Box 4833,
Karachi – 74000, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-32410814-5
Fax: +92-21-32427315
Email: info@oicci.org
Website: http://oicci.org/