This is with reference to the enforcement actions taken by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) wherein penalties have been imposed on the Karachi Stock Exchange and its senior management on account of negligence in taking timely enforcement actions against non-compliant brokers. It should be noted that as per the existing regulatory framework brokers are subjected to System Audit for the purposes of their health check and stock exchange management as part of their routine function are entrusted with the responsibility to discipline non-compliant brokers as the requirements of the System Audit Regulations.
The recent defamation campaign from various quarters including the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and particular group of brokers against SECP is highly regrettable and appears to be the malicious effort to pressurize SECP Appellate Bench, which is a quasi-judicial forum to decide appeals against such Orders, and the relevant parties prefer to Appeal against those Orders. However, it appears that Stock Exchange and its management have, instead resorted to threatening, and using derogatory language against SECP which is highly regrettable. The recent media campaign initiated by them tantamount to influencing the Appellate Bench by stating that "No penal action can be taken against the Exchange and its officers in respect of exercise of their regulatory powers" and that "the orders are not tenable under the law and liable to be set aside".
SECP highly deplores above referred statements from the brokers and the Exchange and considers the same as unwarranted and are far from truth. SECP being front line regulator reaffirms its commitment to work for betterment for capital markets and would not come under pressure from above referred acts containing gross misstatements about the factual state of the case.-PR