In a move to facilitate market participants and in the interest of the capital market, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has accorded its approval to revised eligibility criteria for securities in the Margin Financing (MF) Market. Under the revised eligibility criteria, which forms part of the Regulations of the National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL), 147 securities stand eligible for financing purposes in the MF Market. The NCCPL will notify the list of eligible securities while giving the required notice to the market. The revision in the said criteria and increase in the number of securities has been approved taking into account that the MF is a counter-party risk-based product, which does not entail any centralized risk management system and that the brokers perform risk assessment for their clients. The said revision has been approved based on the discussions with the Karachi Stock Exchange and senior market participants. The said move is ...

ISLAMABAD: Working in conjunction with the Federal Board of Revenue, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, through the Finance Act 2011-12, got the taxation regime for capital markets, corporate and non-banking financial sectors reformed. The SECP’s strategy encompasses continuation of reforms in the capital markets and corporate sector, deepening of structural reforms through removal of anomalies constraining economic activity, and to provide a level playing field to all the stakeholders, recommended various amendments to the 2001 Income Tax Ordinance, which were notified through the Finance Act 2011-12. The significant amendments are as follow: Tax Credit on Investment in new shares and for life insurance premiums/takaful contributions paid: To promote investments in initial public offerings (IPOs), the amount of eligible investment to benefit from tax credit on investment in IPO has been increased from existing Rs300,000 to Rs500,000. The percentage of the person’s tax...

The Securities and Exchange Commission Pakistan believes that a well-informed investor is a well-protected investor. In order to achieve this objective, the SECP has published a series of guide booklets under its Investor Education Programme (IEP). The IEP is aimed at educating investors to protect themselves, raising public awareness on various available investment options and at reinforcing good corporate governance. The series of guide booklets broadly aim at giving investors insights into the capital market and its players, rights and responsibilities of investors, key characteristics of various investment products available in the market, role of the SECP as the apex regulator and avenues for redress available to investors in case their rights are infringed. The guides cover the insurance sector, Modarbas, Voluntary Pension Funds, registration of companies, real estate investments trusts (REITs) and stock market. The SECP hopes that these guides would not only improve the corpo...