ISLAMABAD: Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has recently instituted various reforms to ensure that the requirements of the Companies Ordinance, 2016 (Company Law) are understood by all the stakeholders and the facilitation for incorporation of companies as outlined in the Company Law is provided to the general public.
In order to implement the Company Law and to create awareness of the revised provisions, notices have been sent to all local and foreign companies to comply with the provisions related to global register for beneficial ownership of shareholders, directors and officers of the company.
Notices to around 950 foreign companies have been issued to provide the required information within 30 days. In addition, 75,000 local companies have been advised to provide the required information within 60 days.
The SECP chairman has also constituted a committee, which will apprise the corporate sector on the new law and shall respond to all queries from all the stakeholders, including the general public.
In order to promote corporatization, the SECP has restructured operations at the Company Registration Offices at its three major offices situated in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. Incorporation and Facilitation Desks have been established, which would ensure facilitation to the public so that the companies are incorporated within a day.
Furthermore, to reduce the turnaround time in business start-up and ease the process of incorporation, registration of companies with a single object has been allowed under the new Company Law, which will enable registration of companies on the same day subject to the condition that the company formation documents are filed under online mode. This swift mode of registration is likely to further encourage corporatization of the business sector.
To ensure speedy provision of justice to the public, the SECP has requested the Ministry of Finance to take up the matter with the relevant authorities to notify special courts required to be established under section 3 of the offences in respect of the Banks (Special Courts) Ordinance, 1984, or any other special courts as deemed appropriate, for dealing with the SECP cases.
The SECP’s recent reforms testify to its strong commitment to providing an enabling environment for corporatization in the country.
