SECP’s reforms ease company registration process

LAHORE: New corporate reforms in the last couple of years cut down the company’s registration time to four hours from previous one day, a senior SECP official said on Friday.

Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Shaukat Hussain said formal corporate sector has tremendously been growing during the last five years as a result of the SCEP regulations.

Hussain said technology induction in the system has improved the working and efficiencies. Around 60 percent of initial public offering (IPO) applications were electronically received, he said addressing a seminar on ‘Role of SECP to Complement Business Environment’. The Overseas Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in collaboration with Nestle Pakistan, organised the session.

He said SECP’s company registration offices (CROs) are facilitating the customers. People don’t need to hire any consultant on heavy fee for company registration. Instead they can meet with CRO officials who are deputed to facilitate them in company registration.

Hussain said the revamped process reduced the cost of IPO to one-fourth.

Chief Prosecutor SECP Muzaffar Ahmed Mirza said the SECP law did not allow National Accountability Bureau, Federal Investigation Agency or any other authority to initiate a corporate crime case itself. Such authorities can start proceedings on a reference made by the SECP. “This is the global procedure which is also adopted by the SECP.”

Chairman Nestle Pakistan Syed Yawar Ali said the insurance sector is least developed. He said it is very difficult to find a competent chief executive officer for an insurance company in Pakistan. Managerial skills of a CEO are more important than the technical skills for the position.

Newly-appointed first female CEO of Nestle Pakistan Freda Duplan said market regulators and operators are playing an increasingly important role in encouraging good corporate governance and transparency by requiring companies to fulfill certain standards.

Duplan said the tides of opinion are changing as the intellects identified a disruptive new interpretation: “regulators as drivers of the growth and facilitators of innovation”. Previously, regulations are often regarded as a threat to innovation and growth in the economy, she added.

“We have witnessed that the most growing economies are those where systems encourage transparency and opportunities, infrastructures, and the right set of policies are in place to complement the economy.”

She said technology advancement is rapid in recent time and even the goal of many ‘start-up’ businesses is the ‘disruption’ of existing approaches to commerce.

“However, the thinking among leading regulatory experts and business tycoons is that regulation can be an enabler of economic growth rather than an impediment to it,” she added. “It is the need of the hour for business community and regulators to respond to areas of potential risks,” she added.

Duplan said regulations can foster growth and innovation in any economy of the world. “This can be achieved by deep engagement among all relevant stakeholders on an ongoing basis.”