The  Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) conducted an awareness session on  the 2012 Code of Corporate Governance at the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE). It was held in collaboration with the ISE and was attended by CEOs, CFOs, company secretaries and internal auditors of companies listed at the ISE. The session opened with the brief remarks by Mian Ayaz Afzal, Managing Director, ISE, followed by a presentation by the SECP highlighting the revised code and a presentation by the ISE on compliance and enforcement of the code and a question-and-answer session. Mr. Imtiaz Haider, Commissioner, Securities Market Division, SECP, highlighted the salient features of the revised code and the need for improving corporate governance standards to promote a vibrant capital market. He also touched on various initiatives to promote governance that the SECP has or is currently working on such as introducing the Code of Corporate Governance for SOEs, e-dividend, e-vot...

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Friday approved the Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines, 2013 aimed at encouraging body corporate to align their business strategies with their social responsibilities. The Corporate Social Responsibility Voluntary Guidelines is a preliminary step towards introducing broad parameters for accountability and reporting of CSR activities. These Guidelines are being published as guidance document for all companies. Under the Guidelines, Board of Directors of registered entities are encouraged to take ownership for formulation, adoption and implementation of CSR policy of a company. The Guidelines recommend that CSR policy be fully endorsed by Board of Directors of Company and that such policy is embedded in the vision and strategy of the company. CSR governance benchmark table has been added at the end of Guidelines that shall facilitate companies to assess their performance and for peer review. Prese...

The Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules have been approved by the SECP Policy Board. The rules are aimed at improving the governance framework of public sector companies (PSCs) in order to bring about greater transparency and plugging the huge losses of public sector enterprises, which are in the range of Rs400 billion per year. Held on Thursday at the SECP head office, the board meeting was chaired by Mr. Wajid Rana, the federal finance secretary. The board consists of the SECP chairman, federal secretaries for finance, law and commerce, and deputy governor, State Bank.   The rules have been based on the Code of Corporate Governance issued by the SECP as well as on the recommendations contained in the Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The salient features of the rules are o          The appointment of the...

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has formulated the draft Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Regulations, 2012 in order to improve the governance framework of Public Sector Companies (PSCs). These draft regulations have principally been based upon the Code of Corporate Governance, which has been customized in the context of PSCs in the light of the OECD’s Guidelines on Corporate Governance of SOEs. PSCs are public sector enterprises, operating in corporate form, which are directly or indirectly owned and controlled by the government, whether federal, provincial or local.. The draft regulations have been placed on the SECP website ( www.secp.gov.pk ) for soliciting the opinion, comments and suggestions from stakeholders and the public. These regulations have been designed in view of the distinct governance challenges faced by the PSCs in Pakistan. T he inefficiency of such companies is choking the economy and draining fiscal r...