ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) have agreed to jointly undertake all necessary efforts to collaborate in the fields of counterterrorism financing and anti-money laundering.

SECP chairman Shaukat Hussain and Nacta’s national coordinator Dr Mohammad Suleman Khan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Nacta head office here on Tuesday.

The MoU will enable both oversight institutions to collaborate, cooperate and coordinate to effectively carry out their respective statutory responsibilities for implementation of the Anti-Money Launder­ing and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and maintain the highest level of oversight quality, while minimising duplication of efforts.

Dr Suleman Khan emphasised the importance of MoU in the context of peculiar international scenario and Pakistan’s inclusion in the grey list by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

He said that this was a step forward towards better coordination between Nacta and the SECP and expressed the hope that it would be mutually beneficial to both the organisations in combating terror financing.

“Nacta’s collaboration with the SECP will help achieve broader national mandate of implementation of AML/CFT regime,” Dr Khan said, adding that the close coordination with the SECP had helped Nacta gain knowledge about SECP’s efforts by introducing measures to combat money laundering and terror financing.

He said that Nacta as the coordinating body for counterterrorism had always been eager to reach out to all organisations in order to reinforce the fight against terrorism.

Through the MoU, Nacta and the SECP aim at working together to create awareness about terrorist financing anong the financial institutions and general public, undertake joint research initiatives and share information of mutual interest.

Both institutions will establish a framework for collaboration, coordination, awareness raising and sharing of information in areas of common regulatory and supervisory interest for furtherance of objectives of the SECP and Nacta.

The SECP notified the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Regulations, 2018, on June 14 this year. The regulations consolidate the AML/CFT regime for financial institutions regulated by the SECP — securities brokers, insurance companies, non-banking finance companies and modarabas.

The regulations are fully compliant with FATF recommendations and Pakistan being a member of the Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering is under obligation to adopt the same.

The SECP chairman highlighted the significance of sensitising financial institutions and associations with charitable and not for profit objects regarding best practices to be adopted on the AML/CFT framework.

Published in Dawn, July 25th, 2018