KARACHI: Pakistani delegation of experts has reached Beijing to participate in the three-day talks with the Asia Pacific Group (APG) of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) starting January 21.
The global money laundering watchdog is holding face-to-face meetings ahead of its plenary session in Paris next month to decide Pakistan’s fate as the South Asian nation makes efforts to avoid blacklisting.
The Pakistani team headed by Minister for Economic Affairs Division, Hammad Azhar, will discuss the progress made on the implementation of 22 action points, out of 27, suggested by the global watchdog while the country claims to have complied with five.
The FATF working group technical team will review Pakistan’s 650-page report filed on January 8, 2020 in response to the 150 questions by the Working Group raised on the country’s initial progress report submitted on December 03, 2019 regarding the implementation of the 27-point action plan.
Pakistan is hopeful to win a ‘largely-compliant’ rating by FATF even if it does not make it out of the grey-list at the moment, which can buy the country more time for full compliance.
“Based on the results we have provided to FATF, we are optimistic. On majority of action items, we are complaint and have made reasonable and significant progress,” Mansoor Hassan Siddiqui, Director General of Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) of Pakistan’s central bank, told Arab News last week.
In October last year, FATF gave Pakistan until February 2020 to make swift progress on the given action plan after observing that the country had only made “limited progress” to curb terrorism financing and money laundering.
Pakistan has amended its laws dealing with anti-money laundering proposing harsh punishment and enhanced financial penalties. Country’s suggested amendments in Foreign Exchange Regulation Act 1947 (FERA) and Anti Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010 were passed by the parliament are in process of being promulgated as law.
Pakistan is also taking steps to safeguard saving schemes against ill-gotten money and terror financing through promulgation of National Savings Schemes (AML-CFT) Rules, 2019.
“Pakistan has made substantial progress and is compliant to large extent but we are not fully compliant so far. In the upcoming plenary meeting that will be held in Paris we need three votes to avoid blacklisting that we have,” Muzamil Aslam, senior economists who is closely monitoring the developments, told Arab News. “We are not going to be blacklisted.”
Amid growing opposition from arch rival India, Pakistan has also enhanced its diplomatic efforts ahead of the next month’s meeting to avoid blacklisting especially the recent visit of Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, to United States where he sought US support and hoped that the it would back Pakistan in the upcoming meeting.
“America will be the swing factor. If the US supports Pakistan on the progress we made against terror financing and terrorism, we can immediately move out of the grey-list to white,” Aslam commented.
Pakistani delegation in Beijing to face FATF review starting Tuesday
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Pakistani delegation in Beijing to face FATF review starting Tuesday
- The country will discuss progress made on 22 action points while claims to have complied with five
- The three-day talks come ahead of global watchdog’s plenary session in February
Pakistan regulator amends law to facilitate capital raising by listed companies
- The amendments address challenges faced by listed companies when raising further capital from existing shareholders through a rights issue
- Previously, listed companies were prohibited from announcing a rights issue if the company, officials or shareholders had any overdue amounts
KARACHI: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has notified amendments to the Companies (Further Issue of Shares) Regulations 2020 to facilitate capital raising by listed companies while maintaining adequate disclosure requirements for investors, it announced on Monday,
The amendments address challenges faced by listed companies when raising further capital from existing shareholders through a rights issue. Previously, listed companies were prohibited from announcing a rights issue if the company, its sponsors, promoters, substantial shareholders, or directors had any overdue amounts or defaults appearing in their Credit Information Bureau (CIB) report.
This restriction constrained financially stressed yet viable companies from raising capital, even in circumstances where existing shareholders were willing to support revival, restructuring, or continuation of operations, according to the SECP.
“Under the amended framework, the requirement for a clean CIB report will not apply if the relevant persons provide a No Objection Certificate (NOC) regarding the proposed rights issue from the concerned financial institution(s),” the regulator said.
The notification of the amendments follows a consultative process in which the SECP sought feedback from market stakeholders, including listed companies, issue consultants, professional bodies, industry associations, law firms, and capital market institutions.
The amendments are expected to enhance market confidence, improve access to capital for listed companies, and strengthen transparency within the rights issue framework, according to the SECP.
“To ensure transparency and protect investors’ interests, companies in such cases must make comprehensive disclosures in the rights offer document,” the regulator said.
“These disclosures must include details of any defaults or overdue amounts, ongoing recovery proceedings, and the status of any debt restructuring.”
The revised regulations strike an “appropriate balance” between facilitating corporate rehabilitation and enabling investors to make informed investment decisions, the SECP added.
