SECP introduces business friendly reform measures

ISLAMABAD - In order to further promote corporatisation in the country, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has revamped operations at its three major offices located at Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

Incorporation and Facilitation Desks have been established at these Company Registration Offices which would ensure facilitation to the investors so that the companies are incorporated within a day, said a SECP statement issued here.

Further, in order to reduce the turnaround time in business start-up and ease the process of incorporation, registration of companies with a single object has been allowed. This will enable single-day registration of companies subject to the condition that the registration documents are filed under online mode.

This swift mode of registration is likely to further corporatization of the business sector, the statement added.

A number of other business-friendly measures have been introduced resulting in substantial reduction in registration fee for small companies and filing fee of companies with small capital base, waiving of name availability fee, provision of complimentary certified true copies of company formation documents, reduction in time to register by merging the name availability and incorporation processes.

Further, optimal utilization of information technology in service delivery is ensured through enabling online payment of fee through credit card and online funds transfer facility, enabling online issuance of digital signatures.

The Commission has also expanded its physical outreach through establishment of its registration office at Gilgit-Baltistan, a Capital Market Hub at Abbottabad, and Facilitation Center at Sialkot.

All these measures are likely to provide investor-friendly environment for the corporate sector, the statement added.

The reforms are also likely to improve the country's starting-a-business and doing business rankings annually published by the World Bank to provide a comparative analysis of the doing business reform activity across the globe. It will also ensure documentation of the economy. –APP