KARACHI: Finance Min­is­ter Ishaq Dar has stated that the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSE) would go into operation from Jan 1 next. Under the stock exchange integration policy, the country’s three bourses are to be combined into one — the PSE.

The minister on Wednesday launched the All-Share Islamic Index during his visit to the Karachi Stock Exchange.

He appreciated that the index was a first step towards long and sustained development of Islamic capital markets.

“The size of global Islamic financial market has crossed the threshold of $1.6 trillion and the government assures its fullest support in the development and introduction of Islamic Financial System,” he said.

Also read: Tougher times ahead for Islamic finance as core markets slow down

The index has been developed by a panel of experts representing State Bank of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan, Meezan Bank Limited and Karachi Stock Exchange.

The minister endorsed the views earlier expressed by the SECP chairman and efforts regarding initiatives for further development of credit rating companies and the audit oversight board. SECP Chairman Zafar-ul-Haq Hijazi said that Pakistan was a big market for Shariah-based products where the demand of interest-free products was growing by leaps and bounds.

Karachi Stock Exchange Chairman Muneer Kamal said that All-Share Islamic Index which comprised 225 companies tracks almost 50 per cent of the total listed capitalisation.

He said that there was a growing demand for Shariah compliant products and services and appreciated efforts of the committee members, who developed and designed the Index.

The Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan said that a technical committee was working on the Shariah-compliant trading and Shariah-compliant share financing product and a report would be released soon for an early implementation which shall be a historic step in the development of ‘Islamic Capital Markets’.

The SECP chairman highlighted the importance of good governance and called it one of the key areas that the SECP was focusing on.

He explained that for strengthening governance, the SECP was reforming the Pakistan Institute of Corpo­rate Governance (PICG) to enable it to play a national level role in promoting ethical and governance practices for the corporate sector.

Hijazi said that the SECP was in the process of introducing new regulatory framework for credit rating companies to ensure quality credit rating, independent management and transparency in the credit rating process.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2015