KARACHI: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) is believed to have bowed to the longstanding demand of the members of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) by selecting a former KSE member for the top slot at the apex regulator.
The SECP has been practically rudderless, without a chairman since November 29, after the tenure of Salman Ali Sheikh ended without any extension granted by the country’s economic managers.
Additionally, the apex regulator is said to have placed Farrukh H Khan out of the race for the position, due to a legal hitch that prevents Khan, the cofounder of BMA Capital and reportedly a close friend of Finance Minister Dr Hafeez Sheikh from being nominated. As the row between the SECP and members directors of KSE over the chairmanship intensified, some stock brokers are said to have expressed the fear that ongoing bureaucratic reshuffles at the apex regulator might adversely impact on negotiations, particularly concluded agreements, with the commission. The elected directors backed by over 100 KSE members have been resisting the SECP’s installation of outsiders. KSE members are said to have prevailed against the bureaucracy in SECP and the ministry of finance and a decision is expected, within a couple of days, to appoint a former KSE member, Muhammad Ali Ghulam Muhammad, as SECP chairman.
Muhammad Ali, holding an MBA degree, is an accomplished businessman having worked with distinction in both local and internationally reputed organisations like Citibank, Smith New Court, Indosuez WI Carr Securities, Inbox Business Technologies, Synergy Management Consulting LLC, AllAgro and AllAgro Real Estate and Fortune Securities, a large stockbrokerage and investment banking firm. Ali has previously served as a director on the KSE board.
“SECP will declare his (Ali’s) name for the SECP chairmanship next week, most probably by Tuesday,” the sources stated. They claimed that the name of the brokerage expert was finalised by the SECP after consultation with disgruntled KSE members who were now overjoyed that their former colleague is poised to be placed at the helm of the SECP and will, it is hoped, preserve the interests of the Karachi bourse.
“The new appointment, if executed, would also enable the KSE members to deal favourably with the issue of a non-member chairman,” they opined.
The dispute over a member chairman is still hurting trade at the stock exchange, where members are apparently set to oppose the reappointment of Zubyr Soomro by the SECP. Soomro’s tenure will end December 31st, 2010. When contacted an SECP spokesman neither confirmed nor denied that Ali will take over at the commission. “The finance minister and the prime minister are the right people to deny or confirm it,” the spokesman told Pakistan Today in a telephonic conversation.
