The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) held a capacity-building workshop for journalists at its head office in Islamabad on January 02, 2024, focusing on equity trading at the Pakistan Stock Exchange, trading activity surveillance, and systemic risk. The event aimed to raise public awareness and understanding of capital markets.
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 the 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 presentations were followed by a question-and-answer session with active participation from both sides. The participants agreed that regular communication between regulators and the media is a good practice that will lead to more effective regulation by the regulators and more responsible reporting by the media.
Source: IBP