SECP recently issued a draft of the Companies Amendment Ordinance 2020 which now contains measures to make doing business more convenient for the corporate sector.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan is the financial regulatory agency in Pakistan whose objective is to develop a modern and efficient corporate sector and a capital market based on sound authority principles, in order to encourage investment and foster economic growth and prosperity in Pakistan. The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) have proposed amendments to the Companies Act 2017 as way to improve ease of doing business and facilitate startups in the country.
SECP recently issued a draft of the Companies Amendment Ordinance 2020 which now contains new measures to make doing business more convenient for the corporate sector. These amendments will be directed towards the legislative process before becoming official and a part of law. Moreover, legal amendments have also been proposed in the Companies Act 2017 for consultation. The commission may implement measures as way to doing business easier, improving regulatory quality, efficiency and facilitating innovation and the use of technology in conducting business. The entire policy can be seen through this link. According to ProPakistani.pk, some of the amendments in the policy include:
- Formalizing existing practices through regulations and implementing other measures for attaining international standards of regulatory quality and efficiency for greater ease of doing business.
- Specifying modes and procedures for enabling greater ease of entry into and exit from the market to startup companies.
- Constituting special task groups from the corporate sector for encouraging the use of financial technology in the conduct of business.
- Creating environments for testing and examining the impact of innovation, new processes or technologies outside the existing regulatory framework including but not limited to crowdfunding, digital assets, Open APIs, Smart Contracts, Cloud-based solutions and allowing the establishment and use of regulatory sandboxes
- Encouraging the use of technology for providing and meeting regulatory reporting requirements, risk assessment, customer due diligence, the issuance of suspicious transaction reports, keeping records and such other requirements as may be specified to meet anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing standards.
- Improving regulatory compliance and specifying proportionate data-driven standards for the corporate sector to take measures for cybersecurity, data sovereignty and algorithm supervision.
- Specifying exemptions and incentives under the prevailing laws with the object of fostering innovation, promoting startups and entrepreneurship ecosystem in line with international best practices.
- Prescribing such other frameworks as may be notified by the Commission for stimulating innovation and financial inclusion in the conduct of business by the corporate sector through the use of financial technology, regulatory technology, and supervisory technology.
