ISLAMABAD    -   Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) Farrukh H. Khan on Thursday said stock market of Pakistan was one of the best performing markets in Asian region and major player in the market.

This was in a large part due to the proactive and aggressive monetary, fiscal, social and other measures taken by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), said Managing Director of PSX Farrukh H. Khan.

Addressing at a ceremony after the visit of Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr Reza Baqir to PSX, he said, “I would also like to acknowledge the role of Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), our trec holders, PSX board and management, all of whom have worked together, under very challenging circumstances, to deliver this success”.

He said a large and liquid stock market was a prerequisite for a modern economy, said a press release issued here.

Farrukh H. Khan said PSX was working on a number of important initiatives with SBP, including sharing of KYC for domestic bank account holders, along the lines of RDA. He acknowledged and appreciated all the banks which responded very positively to PSX’s proposals. Managing Director PSX said this would be a huge step forward in improving financial inclusion and converting savings into investments by increasing the investor base in Pakistan and will also help to develop new business models and open up further opportunities in the financial sector. He said another important area was the trading of government debt securities in the stock market, “We have been working closely with SBP and banks to identify issues in the primary and secondary market.”

This would allow a much wider group of investors to participate in the government debt market and provide even greater price transparency, he said. He said PSX’s new trading system would allow all investors to buy and sell government debt securities from the comfort of their home or office.

He said PSX was committed to providing a robust and transparent trading platform to help businesses raise capital and for all investors to make a good return. To achieve this, PSX was implementing, with the support of our Chinese partners, a state of the art trading and surveillance system, at a total cost of over US $ 5million. Phase 1 of the surveillance system has already been implemented and the trading system will be implemented before mid 2021. Farrukh H. Khan suggested working on creating fixed income and equity ETFs that targeted to and meet the requirements of overseas Pakistanis. He said this would make it much easier for them to invest in Pakistan through their RD accounts and would be product in the future evolution of RDAs. He appreciated SBP for the design, execution and huge success of the RDA scheme.

This was unprecedented and showed that what could be achieved by taking ownership, determination and a customer centric approach, he said. Farrukh H. Khan said PSX looked forward to working with him, SBP and all the banks for the benefit of capital markets, banking sector and indeed the economy of Pakistan.