Permanent SECP chairman to be appointed soon

ISLAMABAD: The government is likely to appoint a new permanent chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) within the next two weeks, as the quorum to place a regular chief is complete after the induction of two new commissioners, sources told The News on Monday.

Previously, there were three commissioners including Shoazeb Ali, Shaukat Hussain Abbasi (ex-acting chairman SECP) and Tahir Mehmood who is also acting chairman of the commission.

Last week, the federal cabinet appointed two new commissioners on the vacant posts, including Aamir Khan who was earlier working as executive director/spokesman at the SECP and Farrukh Sabzwari who was Managing Director/CEO at BMA Capital.

Normally, there are five commissioners, and with the appointment of two new commissioners, the quorum to appoint a permanent chairman has been completed. “The government would now appoint a permanent chairman of the SECP,” a source said.

The source said the minutes of the previous meeting in which these new appointments were made would be approved in the next cabinet meeting and then be notified. “After that the new chairman would be appointed which would take maximum of two-week time.”

Meanwhile, the government appointed Khalid Mirza as the chairman of the policy board of SECP and also issued notification for appointment of six members from the private sector on the SECP board.

A statement said the members include Sadiq Saeed from JS Investments, Farrukh Khan from BMA, Adnan Afridi, ex-chief executive officer of Karachi Stock Exchange, senior chartered accountants Waqar-ul-Islam and Asad Ali Shah.

Mirza is the former chief of the Competition Commission of Pakistan and chairman SECP. During his stint at the SECP, he spearheaded the implementation of a major program for the capital markets and corporate sector reforms and took important measures to improve the SECP’s institutional capacity.

He also played a pivotal role in transforming the Monopoly Control Authority into a modern competition agency. Mirza has also served as the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Chief of Mission in Turkey and IFC's Chief of Regional Mission in Thailand. Later, he served as the Sector Manager for Financial and Private Sector Development, East Asia and Pacific Region at the World Bank. At present, he is a Professor at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

Adnan Afridi served as Group Head of Strategy and Investor Relations at Silk Bank Limited. Afridi served as the Managing Director of Karachi Stock Exchange (Guarantee) Limited from October 2007 to November 2010. He served as an acting Chairman of Saudi Pak Insurance Company Limited.

Asad Ali Shah is Senior Partner of Deloitte Yousuf Adil, Chartered Accountants in Pakistan. Shah remains engaged with public sector in various capacities, as professional advisor over nearly 30 years, and as advisor to chief minister Sindh for three years, and has remained engaged with the government on various matters, including its governance and public financial management.