ISLAMABAD, March 6: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan here on Thursday unveiled a Code of Conduct to be followed by surveyors and loss adjusters in order to bring about uniformity and discipline in their working.

Surveyors and loss adjusters, an official source stated, played an important role and are integral part of the financial sector that includes a wide cross-section of institutions, including banks, non-bank financial institutions and insurance companies.

There are 445 surveyors and loss adjusters in Pakistan. As their role has a direct implication for the policyholders, the SECP considered it necessary to regulate their conduct so as to enable them to serve the stakeholders in a more befitting manner, he said.

Prepared in consultation with the Institute of Surveyors and Loss Adjusters of Pakistan (ISLAP), the Code has two general guiding principles — fundamental principles and general guidance notes. Its primary aim is to streamline the profession of surveyors and loss adjusters.

Salient features of the Code are as follows:

(1) A member should behave ethically and with integrity in all professional and business relationships; (2) a member shall act impartially when acting on instructions from an insurer in relation to policyholders’ claim; (3) all the members of ISLAP are liable to disciplinary action if they commit any act or default likely to bring discredit to the member; (4) a member should, at all times, maintain a register of survey work, containing the relevant information and shall keep records of the survey reports, photographs and other important documents for a period of three years; (5) surveyors and loss adjusters are to keep the information confidential which they may acquire during the course of a survey; and (6) restriction on receiving and providing any hospitality to and from the employees of the client.

Expected to go a long way in improving the code of insurance surveyors and loss adjusters, the source said, the Code was available at the SECP website www.secp.gov.pk.