The SECP Registrar Modarabas, Jawed Hussain along with his team, met with Bashir Chowdry, chairman, NBFIs and Modaraba Association of Pakistan (MAP). Bashir Chowdry shared the views of the MAP on various issues faced by the sector, like non-inclusion of the Modarabas in the list of Zakat-deducting agencies and Sahib-e-Nisab in the 1980 Zakat and Ushr Ordinance and in the 2001 Balloters, Transfer Agents and Underwriting Rules as underwriters like other financial institutions.
Besides other issues, Hussain presented a new concept of introduction of Shariah Audit mechanism for the Modarabas. He emphasised the significance of a comprehensive Shariah Audit system for the Modarabas and its importance for the sector.
Under the existing regulatory framework and practice a statutory audit is conducted, which evaluates and ensures the true and fair view of the financials as well as regulatory compliance of the Modarabas. However, a need for the comprehensive system of Shariah compliance has always been felt. Therefore, all the participants favoured the idea of introduction of such system to ensure Shariah compliance on a continuous basis and to keep the confidence of the stakeholders in the Islamic financial system.-PR