Arrangements finalized for Trading Government Securities on Stock Exchanges

Arrangements finalized for Trading Government Securities on Stock Exchanges

The Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar presided over a meeting comprising representatives of Capital Market Institutions, Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Pakistan to finalize the soft launch of Trading of Government Securities in the Stock Exchange from January 31st 2014 at the Finance Ministry, this afternoon.

Mr. Nadeem Naqvi Managing Director KSE briefed the Finance Minister on progress regarding regulatory approvals and potential readiness of the Bond Automated Trading System (BATS) of KSE to the Finance Minister.

Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar appreciated the close cooperation between key financial regulatory institution of Pakistan which has enabled the rapid placement of necessary infrastructure for secondary market trading of government securities which include Treasury Bills (T-Bills), Pakistan Investment Bond (PIB) and Government of Pakistan Sukuk.

The meeting was informed that State Bank of Pakistan would issue a circular permitting trading of Government Securities while the Central Depository Company (CDC) had made necessary for the trading of Government Securities.

The Finance Minister said that this is the first step towards a historic mile stone in Pakistan’s financial architecture which will significantly deepen capital markets while enabling the average citizen to participate and invest in liquid and safe Government of Pakistan securities which can be bought and sold easily with no hassles. This will provide savers with a new, low volatility and highly liquid asset class to deploy their hard earned savings. Historically it has been seen that the return on Government securities was closely tagged to inflation rate thus helping to preserve the real value of savings, he added.

The Finance Minister said that the trading of Government Securities would help in development of an independent secondary capital market as well as provide an alternate to retail investors.

The Finance Minister directed the Chairman KSE to launch an awareness campaign to sensitize general public of the choices now available to them for investment.

Mr. Waqar Masood, Secretary Finance, Rana Asad Amin, Advisor to the Finance Ministry, Mr. Munir Kamal, Chairman Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), Mr. Tahir Mehmood Chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Mr. Mohammad Ali Malik, Executive Director State Bank of Pakistan participated in the meeting.