SECP lists reforms and penalties in annual report

by Tauqeer Abbas
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The drive to ensure effective compliance with Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime led to unprecedented enforcement actions against non-compliant institutions and imposition of dissuasive penalties amounting to Rs32.280 million regarding 76 orders, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) said on Thursday.

In its annual report for financial year 2019-20, the SECP detailed measures which were taken to promote capital formation in capital market, improve access to finance to SMEs, expand financial inclusion, provide ease of doing business and leverage technological advances to bring efficiency and transparency in its working.

“These efforts were made to bring market discipline and discourage market malpractices and non-compliance with the regulatory regime,” the SECP said.

The report added that the commission has also implemented targeted financial sanctions within its regulated sectors under UNSC Resolution that require identification, freezing, and confiscation of terrorist assets.

In his message, Chairman SECP Aamir Khan said that during the outgoing fiscal, the regulator’s overriding focus remained on three specific areas — firstly on creating an enabling regulatory environment for the business community, attracting investment and spurring economic growth by simplifying the regulatory regime.

“The capital market in Pakistan remained fully operational throughout the year in spite of extreme volatility mainly in March 2020 and the improvements in the risk management framework through introduction of market halts and phased widening of circuit breakers from five per cent to 7.5pc initiated in December 2019 proved to be a timely step,” the SECP chairman said.

The market also witnessed the launch of two first-ever “Exchange Traded Funds” which allowed the government to raise Rs200 billion through these listed Sukuk.

Dawn News

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