Amendments to SECP credit, surety rules proposed

ISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Wednesday proposed amendments to the Credit and Suretyship (Conduct of Business) Rules, 2018 for the insurance sector.

The draft amendments have been placed on SECP’s website for eliciting public opinion, said a press release issued here. The main objective of the amendments is to delink the requirement of collateral under the Rules from the reinsurance.

Earlier, during stakeholder consultation session, it was pointed out that the Rules require procuring of collateral on guarantees/ bonds of an amount equivalent to 80 percent of the sum insured less reinsurance, which has led to reduction of business and lessening of retention on credit and suretyship business.

Therefore, to facilitate industry, the SECP has proposed amendments to rules to delink the collateral requirement from reinsurance.

It is proposed that the insurance companies may collect collateral at 10 percent of the sum insured under insurance guarantee contracts. The draft amendments have been placed on the website of the SECP at https://www. secp.gov.pk. The stakeholders can provide their feedback within 30 days of its notification. The SECP believes that this measure will facilitate the insurance industry increase in local retention of insurance risks thus reducing precious foreign exchange.