Daily Times

Karachi: Trade between Pakistan and United Kingdom UK will not be effected by Brexit as both the countries have long history of bilateral trade relations. In post Brexit era continuity of trade will be ensured and the trade agreements could be negotiated, British Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi, Belinda Lewis said while talking to Daily Times at Central Depository Company (CDC) House where she and Pakistan’s top business executives were briefed about capital market on Wednesday.

She informed the participants that as a part of market prioritizing exercise for investment by British companies in number of sectors, particularly financial sector, she has been meeting with representatives of various sectors in Pakistan. She said that huge investment potential exists in Pakistan where UK can provide its expertise. “I have met with number of business executives in Pakistan and next week I will be visiting UK where meetings with top financial institutions and companies’ representatives will be held to discuss existing investment opportunities in Pakistan”, She added.

Earlier, Chief Executive Officer CEO of Central Depository Company of Pakistan, Muhammad Hanif Jakhura, briefed the participants about performance and role of CDC. He informed that 414 brokers are actively engaged in trading in Pakistan’s equity market. The number of listed was 559 while market capitalization has increased to $76 billion.

He said that CDC has diversified its businesses to ensure sustainability. In this Endeavour number of initiatives have been introduced including Retail Investor Services, Trustee and Custodial Services for Mutual Funds, Pension Funds and Real Estate Investment Trust REIT, Share Registrar for Issuer Companies, Centralized Information Sharing Solutions for Insurance Industry and Custody Service to Retail Investor for Government Securities. “We are the only entity in Pakistan other than banks that has been given access to Real Time Gross Settlement System RTGS by State bank of Pakistan”, Jakhura informed.

“Total net assets in the custody of CDC stand at Rs 625.7 billion or $6 billion”, Jakhura said adding “the number of shares held by CDC are 130 billion and the value of these share is Rs 5.3 trillion or $50.5 billion”.

Briefing about the future plans of CDC, Jakhura said that as part of development of Agri-Commodity market in Pakistan Collateral Management Company CMC is being planned as a subsidiary. Banks will be financing farmers based on its crops deposited in CMC system in electronic form called Electronic Warehouse Receipt EWR.

Insurance Repository system will be set up where all insurance policies are proposed to be maintained in centralized server which can be accessed by all pertinent stakeholders. “This solution will ensure accessibility of insurance on historical basis and will allow access to the said information even several years after issuance”, he said.

About another project he said that Development REIT will be collective investment scheme involving real estate investments entailing the construction and selling of property. “Professional Clearing Members” will be introduced for performing custody and settlement functions for brokers who will be allowed to perform trading functions only, Jakhura informed.