Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), Zafar Hijazi met Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, and briefed him on the progress made with regard to the integration of the stock exchanges and approval of the integration schemes by the shareholders of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad stock exchanges.
The federal minister congratulated the Chairman SECP and his team as well as the stock exchanges on this achievement. He appreciated the supportive role played by the SECP in facilitating the entire process of integration and its commitment towards implementation of other reforms for the capital market.
The minister also praised the progressive stance adopted by the three stock exchanges and the co-operation extended by them towards this landmark achievement. He emphasised that the integration would also help attract much-needed foreign investment and global partnerships for the Pakistani capital market.
The federal minister also underscored the need for an improved governance structure for the new stock exchange, post integration. He emphasized that the purpose of the entire exercise is to create a modern and well governed exchange which would be well positioned in the global arena, as compared to the existing exchanges. He emphasized that there would be no compromise on the governance aspect of the exchange in the new set-up, to project a positive image of the country and its capital market and for the protection of investors and other stakeholders.
He mentioned that the government's business-friendly policies and economic reform agenda had already put the country's economy back on track. It was further emphasised that all necessary reforms be put in place to facilitate the capital market to grow to its full potential so that the benefits can be passed onto the economy, and assured the government's full support to the SECP for the same. Earlier, on August 25, 2015, the Federal Minister had graced the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony of the three stock exchanges for their integration into one single trading platform under the proposed name of "Pakistan Stock Exchange Limited".-PR