ISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Zafar Hijazi has visited the Islamabad Stock Exchange and met members of the ISE’s Board of Directors.
The SECP chairman was accompanied by the commission’s senior officers, while ISE Chairman Moin Mohammed Fudda and Chief Executive Mian Ayaz Afzal welcomed Hijazi and his team.
Zafar Jijazi, during his discussion with the ISE Board, said that both the SECP and the frontline regulators (stock exchanges) want to make Pakistan’s capital market a vibrant, transparent and effective regional market, which meets the long-term funding needs of industry while safeguarding investors’ interests.
Hijazi emphasised the need for ensuring transparency, good governance and strong enforcement/surveillance of market intermediaries for restoration of investor confidence. “The ISE should adopt a futuristic approach and come up with ideas, which would help take the exchange forward.”
He said the SECP would play its role of market facilitator and regulator. He urged the ISE to strengthen its capacity as a frontline regulator. “The SECP believes in consensus-based decision-making process and that there would be close interaction and engagement between the SECP and the exchanges in this regard.”
He stressed that the true intent and essence of demutualization and corporatization needs to be achieved to take the exchange forward. The ISE Board was assured of the SECP’s full support to the exchange on its initiatives for market development and to help it evolve as a strong infrastructure institution. The ISE Board appreciated the SECP’s efforts for creation of a fair, transparent and modern capital market, and in particular the recent constitution of a consultative group for important policy decisions on capital market issues.
