ISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Zafar Hijazi has said that implementation of Companies Bill 2016 will be proved as a game changer in the corporate sector.
While addressing a press conference, he said that the federal cabinet has approved the bill on Wednesday and hoped that the parliament would also pass it soon. After the passage of the bill from the parliament, directors and shareholders of the companies would have to declare their stakes at home and abroad, he said.
He further said that companies would also require reporting their foreign equity investments to the SECP. Similarly, companies would be directed to keep the record of foreign investment in the shape of the Companies Global Register of Beneficial Ownership.
Hijazi noted that number of registration of companies would increase after the enactment of the bill. Online work would replace the manual system in companies’ registration, he added. The SECP chairman said that the current legal framework for the capital market and the corporate sector in Pakistan has been updated according to the needs of today and is in accordance with the developed countries standards. He said that before this, basic acts like Securities and Exchange (amendment) Act, 2016, Securities Act, 2015 and Futures Market Act, 2016 have already been approved and implemented.
