Advisor to Prime Minister on Trade and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Monday stated that the registration of companies in Pakistan has increased as a result of the reforms in the past years and subsequent improvement of the country’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) ranking.

In a series of tweets, Dawood shared that during the calendar year 2020, a total of 20,342 companies were registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) which is an increase of 24 percent as compared to 16,456 in 2019.

“When compared to 2018, companies registration increased by 54pc in 2020. In January 2021, a total of 2,201 companies were registered with SECP which is up by 12pc as compared to the previous month,” he said.

The advisor was of the view that this is a healthy trend and the SECP and Board of Investment (BOI) Pakistan “deserve credit for making this possible. Investors are encouraged to take advantage of the ease in company registration offered by SECP to formalize their businesses.”

Meanwhile, SECP has allowed Pension Fund Managers (PFMs) to digitally open individual pension accounts by complying with the requirements prescribed for digital account opening by Asset Management Companies (AMCs).

The SECP has issued circular number 3 of 2021 to the Chief Executive Officers of Pension Fund Management Companies; Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan and trustees of Pension Funds.Under the new circular, the SECP in the exercise of powers conferred under sub-section (3) of section 282B of the Companies Ordinance, 1984 hereby allows Pension Fund Managers registered under Voluntary Pension System Rules, 2005 to digitally open Individual Pension Accounts by complying with the requirements prescribed for Digital Account Opening by Asset Management Companies (AMCs) vide circular 35 of 2020 dated December 30, 2020.