The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) held a capacity building workshop for journalists at its Head Office today, apprising them about SECP’s efforts on promoting Islamic finance and encouraging innovation within its regulatory domain. The session was attended by leading journalists from print and electronic media.
Ms. Musarat Jabeen, Executive Director and Spokesperson of the SECP, while welcoming the participants informed them about various reforms initiated by the SECP in its efforts to facilitate financial inclusion and market expansion, with the objective to improve the business climate in Pakistan.
Mr. Tariq Naseem, Head of Islamic Finance Department at SECP, gave an overview of Islamic Finance, its basic principles, and informed the participants about SECP’s efforts in developing local Islamic financial ecosystem. He also highlighted salient features of the recent diagnostic report on Islamic finance published by SECP, which has identified various impediments in the growth of Islamic Finance and policy recommendations needed for its development in the country.
SECP Director Amina Aziz informed the attendees of SECP’s Regulatory Sandbox initiative, which allows for live testing of new products, services, or business models not covered under existing laws. This program, launched in 2020, is now entering its fourth cohort, inviting applications covering both Islamic financing and conventional financing, with preference given to Shariah-compliant digital finance models. Potential areas include crowdsourcing, liquidity management, nano-finance, small ticket savings, sukuk fractionalization, and any new takaful model or digital intermediation in regulated Islamic financial services.
