SECP completes automation project to provide user friendly environment to regulatees

ISLAMABAD: Amid the era of digital transformation especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has embarked upon its journey of digital transformation, end-to-end process automation to improve service quality, promote transparency and enable user friendly environment for all its regulatees..

Digital transformation connects technology, data science, devices and business strategy leading to improvements in a business process or customer experience, says the annual report of SECP.

On the direction of SECP ,Policy Board the Commission has completed the project named LEAP (Leading Efficiency through Automation Prowess) entails launch of STR, replacing corporate registry system, introducing XBRL and end-to-end process automation.

LEAP will also play a significant role in improving Ease of Doing Business ranking for Pakistan.

LEAP project is funded through Financial Inclusion Programme (FIP) funds, a grant by UK Government to Government of Pakistan. Department for International Development (DFID) has endorsed Karandaaz as its lead implementation partner for the purpose of implementation of LEAP project for SECP.

The FIP Steering Committee approved the LEAP Programme on October 04, 2019. The Commission and SECP Policy Board in November 2019 granted approval for signing of framework agreement between SECP and Karandaaz.

Secured Transaction Registry (STR), the first milestone under LEAP, went Live on 30th April, 2020.

This initiative is in line with international best practices and methodology of World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index which aims to improve access to finance for SMEs through use of their movable assets as collateral besides providing a mechanism for protection of secured creditors.

STR is an electronic database in which financial institutions can record charges or security interests created by unincorporated entities or individuals on their movable assets. Any person may search for existing security interests on movable assets of Entities (other than companies) registered in the STR. STR is a critical enabling factor of Pakistan’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS).

This initiative is expected to usher a new era of SME growth, and is in line with the government’s vision and reforms agenda for a vibrant and sound economy. So far, more than 105,000 loans have been registered by financial institutions in the last five months.

BPR activity is a business management strategy which involves the radical redesign of the core business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in productivity, turn-around time (TAT) and quality.

The BPR activity for process optimization was undertaken in which list of business processes was reviewed and finalized in consultation with business departments and the list consisting of 245 business processes was categorized in seven top level categories namely, company registration, licensing, filing and compliance, supervision and enforcement, adjudication, regulatory approvals and administrative and support functions.

Process optimization was performed to convert the business processes into customer journeys to streamline the scope of project. To-Be model (level 1) was prepared to reflect the future state of company registration, unified licensing and integrated supervision function. Once this exercise is completed, it shall reduce complexities in business processes, enhance user experience and promote transparency and internal efficiency.