18 February 2004	Wednesday	26 Zilhaj 1424

ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: The chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Dr Tariq Hassan, here on Tuesday stressed upon the regulatory agencies to be cognizant of the world trends of markets and think of innovative and progressive measures.

He was speaking at the 9th meeting of the Coordination Committee of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the State Bank, which was attended by their heads to discuss issues pertaining to holistic regulation of the financial sector.

The main areas of discussion, according to the SECP press release, included: development of secondary market in term finance certificates and government securities, credit ratings, regulation of real-estate developers and brokers, external auditors for financial institutions of a group, review of the status and future course of action with regard to non-regulated brokerage business and consolidated supervision.

The meeting of the two capital market regulators also discussed certain anomalies in the margin trading rules drafted by the SECP and the SBP and the future road-map for the phasing out of carryover transactions (COT).

Various issues pertaining to credit rating agencies were also discussed and the governor of State Bank, Dr Ishrat Hussain suggested that to maintain investors' confidence in ratings, the SECP issue a Code of Ethics which should lay down certain principles for companies to follow while dealing with these agencies.

The Coordination Committee meets once in a quarter and includes high officials from both institutions. These formal meetings supplement the on-going regular coordination between the two regulators on all matters of mutual interest.