The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has recently come under scrutiny following the disclosure of a massive 1.191 billion rupee disbursement to its top leadership and staff. The payments, which were made retrospectively, cover a 16-month period spanning from July 2023 to October 2024. This significant financial outlay included salaries, perks, and various benefits, alongside substantial allocations to long-term trust funds such as gratuity and pensions. The scale of these payments has drawn attention to the internal financial practices of one of the countrys most vital regulatory bodies, particularly as the details emerged during discussions regarding the fiscal management of public entities in the Senate.A detailed breakdown of the 1.191 billion rupees reveals that the funds were divided into two primary categories. Approximately 579.139 million rupees were disbursed as salary arrears for the 16-month period, while the remaining 612.054 million rupees were transferred to trust funds designated for employee retirement benefits.
Within the leadership hierarchy, the Chairman and three commissioners received a combined total of 65.559 million rupees. Other senior tiers also saw significant payouts, with nine executive directors receiving 68.787 million rupees and 16 directors being allocated 87.046 million rupees. The disbursements extended through the various ranks of the organization, including joint directors, deputy directors, and 140 staff members who collectively received over 53 million rupees.In response to the concerns raised by parliamentary oversight bodies, a spokesperson for the SECP clarified that these payments were the result of a formal salary benchmarking exercise. This exercise was conducted by the global professional services firm KPMG to ensure that the regulators compensation packages were aligned with current market standards. The SECP maintained that such adjustments are necessary to attract and retain high-level expertise required for complex financial oversight. The proposal for the retrospective increase was vetted and approved by the SECP Policy Board, which holds the statutory authority under the SECP Act of 1997 to manage the regulator’s budgetary and financial decisions.The regulator emphasized that the Policy Board serves as the competent authority for these matters, and as such, approvals from external government bodies were not legally required. This autonomy is a core feature of the SECP’s structural design, intended to allow it to function independently as a market watchdog. However, the SECP did confirm that it has shared all relevant information with oversight bodies, including various parliamentary committees, in accordance with standard reporting procedures. This transparency is aimed at addressing any perceptions of financial impropriety while defending the institution’s right to manage its own human resource costs.
Regarding the current audit status of these disbursements, the SECP noted that the matter has not yet reached the Departmental Accounts Committee level. The regulator stated that any audit observations would be addressed through the established and formal mechanisms maintained with the Auditor General of Pakistan. As the conversation around the financial transparency of state-owned and regulatory entities continues to evolve in the public sphere, the SECP remains firm that its actions were taken within its legal mandate to ensure a competitive and professional workforce capable of maintaining the integrity of Pakistans capital markets.
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