Govt likely to extend tenure of SECP chairman

Petition filed in LHC against incumbent chairman's appointment

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is likely to extend the tenure of incumbent Securities Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Chairman Aamir Ali Khan.

Sources said that the Ministry of Finance will present a summary for posting of a new SECP chairman in the coming meeting as the tenure of the commission’s chairman is going to end on December 6.

It is pertinent to note here that SECP is a body established under the SECP Act, 1997, with the mandate of beneficial regulation of Pakistan’s capital market and insurance industry.

The commission is run by a chairman and commissioners appointed by the federal government under Section-5 of SECP Act. In addition, the policy board of SECP is a supervisory body consisting of members appointed by the federal government under Section-12 of SECP Act.

Sources said that a petition has also been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) with regard to the incumbent chairman’s appointment.

It is worth mentioning here that the federal government had appointed two commissioners, one each from the private sector and public sector on November 20, 2018. 

Aamir Ali Khan was working as executive director when he joined as a commissioner on December 07, 2018, and was later appointed as chairman SECP without resigning from the post of executive director in the same organisation. 

Khan claims to have an overall local and international banking experience of more than 30 years in banking industry. 

Presently, the commission has three members including SECP Chairman Aamir Khan, and Commissioners Farrukh Sabzwari and Sadia Khan.

The Ministry of Finance had given advertisements for appointments of two new commissioners but no person has been finalised yet.

On the other hand, the government has yet to appoint the chairman policy board of SECP as Masoud Naqvi resigned from the position due to health issues and reportedly no meeting was held since his resignation from the post.

Shahzad Paracha
Shahzad Paracha
The writer is a member of Pakistan Today's Islamabad bureau. He can be reached at [email protected]

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