KARACHI: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb called on the country’s corporate regulator to strike a balance between easing business regulations and enforcing compliance, as the government seeks to attract investment and deepen capital markets.
Speaking during a review meeting at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) on Wednesday, Aurangzeb said a business-friendly regulatory framework is essential to encourage investment, support entrepreneurship and strengthen confidence in financial markets.
The meeting focused on the regulator’s recent performance and ongoing reforms aimed at expanding Pakistan’s capital markets and improving the investment environment for domestic and foreign investors.
SECP Chairperson Kabir Ahmed Sidhu told the meeting that the regulator has registered a record 18,057 new companies and issued 149 licences to non-banking finance companies. He also highlighted the implementation of third-party motor insurance in Sindh, which recorded a 1,300 per cent increase in uptake within three months.
The chairperson said the SECP has approved 10 initial public offerings and facilitated the addition of 127,907 investors to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) over the past six months, taking the total investor base to more than 583,000.
Officials also briefed the minister on supervisory and enforcement measures, including the completion of 75 inspection reports and 13 investigations, issuance of 534 show-cause notices, and action against illegal deposit-taking schemes.
The SECP issued 397 adjudication orders during the period, resulting in penalties exceeding Rs20.8 million that were deposited into the Federal Consolidated Fund, according to the briefing.
Aurangzeb welcomed the regulator’s actions against non-compliant state-owned enterprises and stressed the need to strengthen governance standards. He directed the SECP to keep principal accounting officers of relevant ministries informed of compliance issues to facilitate timely corrective action.
The finance minister also asked the regulator to further simplify company registration, licensing and public offering procedures through greater digitalisation and reduced manual intervention, with the aim of encouraging business formation and increasing market listings.
Sidhu said the SECP’s reform agenda was centred on improving people, processes and technology to make regulatory services more efficient, transparent and responsive. He highlighted initiatives including IBAN-based know-your-customer (KYC) verification, the CDC Asaan Connect application, a broker referral programme, a partnership between KTrade and JazzCash, restructuring of the Investor Facilitation and Market Promotion framework, a proposed Pakistan stock market exchange-traded fund in China, and expanded digital access to gold trading.Aurangzeb said continued innovation, digital transformation and regulatory facilitation is critical to strengthening financial markets and supporting economic growth.
