ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s Centralized Gateway Portal (CGP) has simplified the process for opening accounts of retail investors with multiple financial intermediaries i.e., brokers, asset management companies and insurance companies.

This has been disclosed by the SECP officials during a workshop held at the head office on Wednesday, focusing on oversight of trading activities at the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

The SECP team explained that the stock exchange plays an important role in capital formation, financial inclusion, and diversification of investments. The participants were briefed on the trading, clearing, settlement, and custodial functions of the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the National Clearing Company, and the Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited, collectively referred to as Capital Market Infrastructure Institutions (CMIIs).

The presentation on digital online account opening process emphasized the convenience offered by the newly introduced Centralized Gateway Portal (CGP) for retail investors across all financial intermediaries i.e., brokers, asset management companies, and insurance companies. The new process has simplified the process for opening accounts with multiple financial intermediaries by ensuring that most of the required documents and details are available in the CGP.

The presentation on market surveillance explained SECP’s mandate with respect to surveillance. Participants were informed about different types of market abuse, such as insider trading, market manipulation etc. and briefed about various tools for surveillance that have been deployed at SECP and PSX.

Case studies were presented to participants to help them develop an understanding of market abuses, especially insider trading and market manipulation.

SECP’s Commissioner Securities Markets, Abdul Rehman Warraich explained SECP’s mandate with regards to markets surveillance and gave detailed answers to the participants’ questions.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024