ISLAMABAD, Apr 26 (APP): A three-day capacity-building workshop on Islamic Capital Markets, jointly organized by the Security Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) concluded on Friday, highlighting Pakistan’s significant progress in developing the Islamic finance industry.
The workshop has designed to enhance the capacity of the officials of regulatory and supervisory authorities, said a news release issued here.
Chairman SECP Akif Saeed reiterated its deep commitment to support the continued development and expansion of the Islamic finance industry in Pakistan.
Referring to the historic judgment of the Federal Shariat Court and the government’s commitment to transform the entire financial system in accordance with Shariah principles, he pointed out that SECP has already accelerated its efforts and achieved considerable progress by enabling Islamic finance in all regulated sectors.
The SECP has revamped the Shariah governance framework and also issued guidelines for offering Islamic Financial Services that are enabling industry to achieve many firsts during the year.
These include Shariah certification of the first ever Shariah-compliant REIT schemes, dedicated asset management companies, Islamic income, money market, and equity funds, Islamic pension schemes, Islamic ETFs, an NBFC with buy-now pay-later platform, a stock brokerage house, and a microfinance company.
The regular issuance and listing of GoP Ijarah Sukuk through the stock market is another major breakthrough in the domestic sukuk market achieved during the year.
In addition, the corporate sukuk market in Pakistan is also witnessing renewed interest, however, it is dominated by short-term, privately placed sukuks, and during the year, the SECP approved 30 such sukuks worth Rs 153 billion. (Total 69 Sukuk, with a cumulative amount of Rs. 563.640 billion as of June 30, 2023).
The Chairman emphasized the need to enable the listing of short-term Sukuk as well, so as to expand the investor universe for the issuer as well as the investable universe for the investor.
Head of Islamic Finance at SECP Tariq Naseem expressed gratitude to IFSB and the esteemed trainers for their support in promoting Islamic finance.
He also shared that a comprehensive roadmap for capacity building in Islamic finance has been developed in partnership with IFSB Malaysia, Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI) Bahrain, The Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) Jeddah, and The Centre for Excellence in Islamic Finance (CIEF) Alliance for Islamic Finance.
He said that Pakistan now stands ready to play its pivotal role in fostering an enabling environment for Islamic finance, one that encourages innovation, promotes investor confidence and ensures the integrity and stability of our financial system.
The workshop was attended by officials from the SECP, State Bank of Pakistan SBP, the Ministry of Finance, the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX), Central Depository Company (CDC), and National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL).
