ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has established an Islamic Finance Department for regulation and development of the Islamic financial market.
The department will carry out the functions of Shariah regulation and compliance, product development, market awareness, Shariah securities market development and international liaison and networking.
It is pertinent to mention that at present the total Islamic financial assets of Pakistan have reached over Rs1.7 trillion, constituting around 10 percent of the total banking assets of Pakistan. Out of the total Islamic financial assets around 40 percent assets are directly or indirectly regulated by the SECP. They include mutual funds, modarabas, pension funds, takaful and sukuk.
Meanwhile, the SECP has also decided to restructure the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange Limited (PMEX) to improve its effectiveness and to provide farmers easy access to markets.
The commodity exchanges play a pivotal role in the trading cycle of commodities with particular focus on contracts that involve delivery of local agricultural produce like wheat, rice, sugar, potato and others. The development of commodity markets will provide farmers electronic access to commodities markets.
