June 30, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 3, 1427

ISLAMABAD, June 29: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has circulated a revised paper on Continuous Funding System (CFS) Mk II, an amended version of the existing CFS. The CFS Mk II has incorporated all the accepted amendments proposed by various stakeholders, says an official announcement issued here on Thursday.

It is pertinent to mention here that a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Shaukat Tareen and comprising representatives of the three stock exchanges, the SECP, Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan, stock brokers and bankers, had been established to iron out details and finalise issues related to documentation.

The first meeting of the committee will be held today.

The CFS Mk II is aimed at addressing the biases inherent in the existing finance models, namely CFS and the un-official ‘Badla’ finance system which promotes undue systemic risks and precludes the formation of a level-playing field for all market participants.

A task force on the March, 2005 crash of Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) has already pointed out the Badla system as one of the few main reasons behind the market crash that inflicted billions of rupees losses on small investors.

The CFS Mk II is expected to eliminate these risks and inequalities and facilitate a transparent and efficient financing product for the market.