KARACHI, Jan 7: All seven outside directors are expected to be in place when the Board of Directors meet on Tuesday, Salim Chamdia, chairman, Karachi Stock Exchange, told Dawn on Monday. Five names had already been approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) last week.

Induction of seven non-broker directors, representing 40 per cent of the Board and an independent managing director, were the foremost on the Asian Development Bank’s capital market reforms programme. The ‘consultative process’ for appointment of outside directors for the year 2002, is currently under way. According to rules, recommendations of names, which naturally would be numerous, are being made by the KSE. From those, SECP would approve seven.

KSE chairman dispelled impressions—if any—of an uneasiness between the bourse and the regulator over the nominations and approval of the names of non-broker directors to the board. “Every thing was proceeding according to the Articles of Association of KSE and in an extremely cordial manner,” he affirmed.

He said he quite agreed with the SECP that all names recommended to it were of highly respectable and reputed people in their fields. “There was no question of ‘rejection’ of any name by the Commission,” he said, adding that it was just the right approach of the Commission to take its time and even communicate with the persons concerned and arrive at its own decision regarding the time he could devote to the bourse. He said that it was even possible that pressed for time, some of the persons nominated may have themselves expressed unwillingness to assume additional responsibility of being on the bourse’s Board.