Meezan Exchange Company gets certificate of incorporation from SECP

Meezan Exchange Company (Pvt) Limited has received the certificate of incorporation from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

Meezan Bank disclosed to the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in a stock filing on Wednesday that the exchange company will be its wholly owned subsidiary and will offer services such as currency exchange, remittances, and other related activities in compliance with the Shariah principles.

The establishment of the exchange company was approved by Meezan Bank's board in September 2023, with Rs 1 billion as paid-up capital after which the bank obtained the no-objection certificate (NOC) from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

Meezan Bank will now apply to SBP for the license to commence operations of the exchange company, as per the SBP Exchange Companies Manual. The bank expects to launch the exchange company in the near future and provide its customers with a convenient and reliable platform for their foreign exchange needs.

Reforms in exchange companies sector

In September, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) introduced a series of structural reforms pertaining to exchange companies, with the primary objective of tightening control over the open market and fortifying governance, internal controls, and compliance standards within the sector.

As a part of this initiative, public and private banks involved in foreign exchange activities were mandated to establish wholly owned Exchange Companies, designed to address the legitimate foreign exchange requirements of the general public.

The SBP also raised the minimum capital requirement for exchange companies from Rs 200 million to Rs 500 million, with the additional stipulation that the capital must be unencumbered by prior losses.

In compliance to the new regulations, major banks including United Bank Limited (UBL), Meezan Bank, MCB Bank Limited (MCB), Bank AL Habib (BAHL), Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Faysal Bank Limited (FABL), Bank Alfalah (BAFL), Habib Metropolitan Bank, Askari Bank Limited,  Bank of Punjab and Bank of Khyber announced to establish their own forex companies.

The SBP has recently issued no-objection certificate (NOC) to ABL and MCB for establishing their exchange companies.

Notably, Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and the National Bank of Pakistan (NPB) had ventured into exchange companies before the implementation of these new SBP regulatory measures.