KARACHI: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has ordered an investigation into the leakage of trading information of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX).
In October PSX had to cut the session short by one hour and 20 minutes due to a “technical fault”. Although it was assured that it was just a technical fault and nothing more, investors opinioned otherwise.
Meanwhile, PSX Acting Managing Director Haroon Askari said that such glitches happen everywhere and are not necessarily indications of mismanagement or plausible fraud.
Sources claimed that the market’s Exposure Management System had gone haywire and the system was unable to calculate or was miscalculating, margins on open market positions.
It was also speculated by some as a reaction from the exchange’s department concerned to the strong protest by stakeholders at the PSX annual general meeting (AGM) held on Oct 24.
Earlier in October, an English daily quoted an anonymous source who said, “Those who wanted to know the ‘calendar’ got the information by paying a certain sum of money”, indicating that this was no technical glitch but an intentionally done by an insider to leak data.
In addition to the above, while taking a serious notice of various complaints received, the SECP constituted a team with a mandate to immediately start the investigation proceeding to identify and curb the sources of such unlawful practices and take necessary corrective and punitive actions.
In order to achieve this objective, the Commission will engage the services of professionals/experts as deemed necessary and ensure fair and early disposal of this investigation.
The SECP believes that sanctity of trading information holds paramount importance for growing confidence of investors in the capital market and any leakage/unauthorised access of trading data qualifies to be a criminal offence under the relevant laws. Such unlawful access and leakage puts the investors at an inherent disadvantage and may also expose them to unwarranted risks.
The SECP remains committed to ensuring the protection of interests of investors at all times and take stern action against any illegal activity in the capital market of Pakistan.
