SECP proposes changes in law to prevent money laundering

ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has proposed new amendments to its regulations to prevent money laundering.

The commission, in a press release on Wednesday, announced that the move is intended to prevent misuse of corporate entities for money laundering and identify control structure and ownership of the companies.

They (amendments) have been made on the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The release further says the new amendments will ‘strictly prohibit’ the transfer and issuance of any equity and debt securities of bearer nature —one that can be exchanged without the need to keep records of the transactions.

The SECP also said the period of retention record of dissolved companies would be increased.

The proposed amendments have been designed to address the deficiencies pointed out by the country’s mutual evaluation report published by the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering in October 2019.

The laws for which the amendments have been proposed include Companies (Incorporation) Regulations, 2017, Companies (General Provisions and Forms) Regulations, 2018, Foreign Companies Regulations, 2018, and Limited Liability Partnership Regulations, 2018.

The proposed amendments are available on SECP’s official website [email protected].