KARACHI: The operational merger of BIPL Securities and AKD Securities will become effective from Monday, with the surviving company being renamed as AKD Securities.

In a regulatory filing with the Pakistan Stock Exchange, BIPL Securities said it’ll continue to mention its former and new names outside its offices and official correspondence for 90 days.

The development follows a June 6 announcement in which the company told investors that the Sindh High Court sanctioned the investment bank’s merger with AKD Securities Ltd, an unlisted brokerage house that’s part of businessman Aqeel Karim Dhedhi’s conglomerate.

The parent company of BIPL Securities, BankIslami Pakistan Ltd, transferred its entire stake constituting 77.12 per cent of the paid-up share capital to AKD Securities about a year ago.

The Islamic bank first announced in April 2019 that it’d sell BIPL Securities because the stock brokerage business was not in line with the Shariah-compliant mandate of the commercial lender.

Until 2015, BIPL Securities operated under the name of KASB Securities Ltd. It was listed as an asset on the balance sheet of KASB Bank Ltd, which was put under a moratorium and subsequently sold off to BankIslami for its non-compliance with regulatory requirements.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2022