ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Finance as well as Law Division fully endorsed Policy Boards’ powers to increase salaries of the management of the regulatory bodies including Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).
During the meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, Chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Saleem Mandviwalla on Wednesday categorically stated that the Policy Board of the regulatory bodies including SECP has full authority by law to raise salary of its commissioners including chairman SECP.
Sharing legal position, Federal Secretary Ministry of Law informed the committee that that there is no violation of Rules of Business and SECP has increased salaried with the approval of the Policy Board.
Secretary Law Division stated that all actions have been taken under the law with the approval of the Policy Board and there is no illegality in the matter. The SECP Act empowers the Policy Board to take decisions in this regard. If there is any conflict between the law and the rules/regulations etc, the law will prevail.
Secretary Law Division concluded that the Policy Boards have full legal powers and mandate to take decisions pertaining to the SECP under the law.
The representative of the Ministry of Finance informed that the Secretary Finance will personally brief the committee on the issue.
When Senator Saleem Mandviwalla tried to defer the matter till next meeting, Senator Anusha Rahman insisted to take up the matter before the committee.
Discussing the emoluments of SECP, the committee noted hefty increases and deferred the matter stating that it would seek input from the Federal Secretary of Finance and Revenue in the upcoming meeting.
Chairman SECP while clarifying SECP’s position informed the committee that SECP’s pay packages have been revised by the Policy Board keeping in view the findings of a compensation survey conducted by an independent professional firm i.e. KPMG.
He said that the KPMG analyzed the compensation data (as of June 2023) of 13 firms including regulatory bodies.
SECP Chairman said that the Commissioners pay scales were revised by setting the mid-point at 30th percentile despite the fact that the KPMG’s recommendation was of 60th percentile. Thorough deliberation was carried out at HR Committee level as well as Policy Board level.
It was a unanimous decision of the Policy Board with no dissent from any member.
SECP Chairman said that any package of Chairman and Commissioners (as well as employees) were revised by the Policy Board (as per law) after an independent compensation survey conducted by KPMG. The chairman & commissioners’ salary was proposed to be revised at a much higher rate, but Policy Board decided to increase the salary reasonably, keeping in view that these are previllaged positions. It is important to note that CEOs of banks, DFIs, and corporates are getting much higher salaries than the Chairman SECP.
Recently, salaries of NEPRA and SBP chiefs have also been increased considerably. If the power to fix the salaries of Chairman & Commissioners is given to the federal government then the independence of the Commission in financial, administrative and functional matters will be compromised which is guaranteed in Section 3 of the SECP Act, 1997. Further, SECP will be unable to attract and retain professionals.
The official of the Auditor General of Pakistan read the relevant audit para/audit objection pertaining to the raise in salary of the SECP officials.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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