SECP directed to renew licences of four brokers for 2019

Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Policy Board has directed the SECP to renew licences of four brokers for 2019 and call back cases against two brokers from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for investigating the same by the SECP.
Licences of two brokers would be immediately renewed and conditional renewal of two brokers' licences has been given by the Policy Board. The remaining two cases were rightly decided by the SECP.
The decision has been taken by the Oversight Committee of the Board held here on Thursday to review cases of renewal of licences of six brokers for 2019.
The meeting was held on the directions of the SECP Policy Board under the chairmanship of Professor Khalid Mirza.
Out of 225 brokers, the SECP has renewed licences of 219 brokers for 2019. The cases of the remaining brokers have been finalised in the meeting of the Oversight Committee.
Details of the decision revealed that the Policy Board has decided to immediately renew licences of two brokers. Policy Board has directed the SECP to call back cases of these two brokers from the NAB and the cases would be investigated by the SECP itself. The licences would be restored and cases against these brokers would be withdrawn from the NAB for investigation by the SECP.
The Oversight Committee of the Policy Board also gave conditional approval for renawel of licences of two brokers. These two brokers were defaulted on account of Credit Information Bureau (CIB) reports from the State Bank of Pakistan. The brokers should get their clearance of the CIB from the central bank and the SECP would renew their licences for 2019. However, they are required to clear their defaults.
In the remaining case of one broker, Policy Board decided that the licence of the said broker was suspended and there is no question about the renewal of this licence.
In case of renewal of licence of sixth broker, the SECP has rightly taken action against the said broker.
All these renewal of licences of brokers were finalised in the light of the Stock Brokers Licensing Regulations applicable for renewal on December 31, 2018 for the period of 2019.
When contacted, Khalid Mirza said that the mindset of the SECP needs to be changed for the development of the capital market. The action of not renewing licences of these brokers was unjust.
Khalid Mirza added that the under the new brokers regime, the licences would be renewed automatically.
He said that it was brought to the attention of the Board that licences of six brokers had not been renewed during 2019. A sample of two of these cases was discussed which left the Board unconvinced as to whether the action taken was justified. The Oversight Committee of the Board was then entrusted with the task of examining all cases of licence non-renewal and to take a final decision with respect to licence renewal in each case.