ISLAMABAD: Breaking away with the tradition, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) policy board has asked the government to consider their opinion while appointing the next SECP chairman.

The newly appointed board held its meeting on Thursday at the SECP head office and reviewed the overall functioning of the commission.

The SECP is currently without a permanent chairman after former chairman Zafar Hijazi was suspended by the finance ministry in July last year after the joint investigation team probing the Panama case found him guilty of tampering records of companies owned by the Sharif family. He was appointed as the SECP chairman in December, 2014.

The SECP has recently appointed two new commissioners at the SECP bringing the total to five. Once these commissioners are notified, finance ministry will then appoint one of them as the chairman.

However, the policy board for the first time asked the government to consider its input too while selecting the next SECP chairman.

“The primary reason is that for the first time a non-bureaucrat individual has been appointed to helm the SECP policy board,” said a senior official of the SECP. Previously, secretary finance was charged to head the board.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2018