ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Finance approved amendments to the SECP Act 1997 on Wednesday, allowing parliamentarians to join the SECP Policy Board.

The amendment proposed by Senator Anusha Rehman suggested increasing the number of government-nominated SECP policy board members from four to six, with the addition of one MNA and a Senator.

She stressed that the previous policy board of the SECP significantly raised the salaries and other perks of the commission’s officers.

“They not only increased their pay package, but also received 18 months outstanding as well. How do you justify that?” she asked Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. She added that to raise money for this massive expenditure, the SECP has increased fees and charges, causing a loss to the country’s business environment.

While the new management of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan faced grilling at the hands of senators due to the deeds of the previous management.

The committee, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, expressed its annoyance to the chairman of SECP, Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu, for not providing the information requested by the committee.

The committee had asked the SECP to provide details of foreign visits by officials during the ban period. However, the commission was not supplying the committee with information on foreign travels by SECP officials.

The committee members also demanded that the new chairman of SECP recover funds from the former chairman, Akif Saeed, the commissioner, Abdul Rehman, and others for amassing millions of rupees. The other amendments were withdrawn, and the committee approved this amendment despite opposition from the finance minister .

She said that of the 19 regulatory bodies, only the State Bank and the SECP have large salary packages, and they are not answerable to anyone.

Involving parliamentarians in the policy board would allow them to be forewarned about any malicious activities by the board, she added.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2026