ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) notified the draft Valuers Registration and Governance Regulations 2016, and had also placed the same on its website to obtain public opinion within 30 days.

The draft regulations are aimed at the regulation and supervision of the work of professional valuers.

The regulations provide for the registration mechan­ism of professional valuers in the form of company, on five specialised valuation panels, for which the prescr­ibed eligibility and fit-and-proper criteria has been defined.

The practicing valuers would be registered separately on these five specialised panels, which shall segregate their eligibility criteria according to the nature of the assets to be valued.

Registration of valuers on Panel-1 is for Land and Building; Panel-2 for plant and machinery, and infrastructural construction; Panel-3 for current assets, inventories, commodities; Panel-4 for securities, intangible assets, financial assets, financial liabilities; and Panel-5 for Information Systems and Infrastructure Assets including hardware and software.

The valuer shall employ highly qualified professionals in its senior management, including graduate engineers in relevant disciplines; chartered accountants, cost and management accountants, chartered financial analysts, lawyers and master’s degree holders with prescribe experience.

The regulations elaborates quality assurance framework whereby a quality assurance board would be setup to supervise and grant rating to registered valuers through review of their valuation services. High ethical standards and code of conduct has been prescribed for the sponsors, directors and senior management officers of the valuations companies.

Previously, this area has been largely unregulated. However, the SECP has chalked a detailed roadmap after thorough international research on similar regulatory jurisdictions and conducted deliberation with the main stakeholders, including the State Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Banking Association and practicing professional valuers. The draft regulations is the outcome of such deliberations, that has been prepared after considering their input and were notified in the official gazette to elicit public opinion.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2016