KARACHI, Dec 2: The Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has asked that offices of chairmen of the Lahore and the Islamabad Stock Exchanges be shifted a little away from the administrative blocks of their respective exchanges by Dec 31.

SECP Chairman Dr Tariq Hassan told Dawn that the order had been issued in the interest of transparency, fairness and integrity of the market. He said that escorting out broker chairmen of stock exchanges from the administrative blocks would remove any public perception about unfair market practices.

He said, he appreciated the role of the Press in uncovering some of the cases of 'insider trading', but insisted that there was an 'expectation gap'. "We cannot be expected to remove all market abuses overnight", said Dr Tariq.

He stated that it would take time to build capacity, to put proper infrastructure in place and to headhunt a team of experts to methodically remove what remains of the market madness. "But we are moving resolutely in that direction", said the SECP chairman.

Earlier on Monday, a directive issued by the Securities Market Division of the SECP stated: "In spite of our verbal requests to Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) and the Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) not to have the offices of chairman in the administration blocks of the exchanges, regrettably, these verbal messages have not brought about the desired results which is affecting the overall perception of the market".

The SECP order addressed to the managing directors of the LSE and the ISE and asked to be circulated to the National Commodity Exchange Limited (NCEL); the Central Depository Company (CDC) and the National Clearing Company Pakistan Limited (NCCPL), said that the chairmen of none of the above had their offices within the administrative blocks and nor was that of the chairman KSE.

The order went on to say: "As per the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Stock Exchanges as well as the Code of Corporate Governance, the chairman is the chairman of the board and his role is limited to chairing the board meetings of the exchange".

Securities Market Division Commissioner Shahid Ghaffar could not be reached for he is travelling in Egypt, where besides the official work, he ought to be watching the awesome Pyramids. But another senior official at the SECP insisted that it was not the objective of the order to minimize the role of Board of Directors of Exchanges, which were empowered to make policy decisions.