The SECP has taken a serious note of fraud by MR Securities, a Lahore-based stockbroker. In order to forestall such fraudulent practices, the SECP Chairman, Zafar Hijazi, convened a meeting of PSX Board of Directors.
Chairman said that the SECP would not tolerate such activities as it was its prime responsibility to protect investor interests. He asked the PSX Board of Directors to thoroughly investigate if some of its officials were negligent in discharging their regulatory responsibilities.
The PSX assured the SECP that it would complete the investigation into the matter by February 13, and give its report by February 14.
Later a meeting between the SECP and the PSX will be held to take some decisive action. The Chairman told the PSX Board of Directors that a deterrent action has to be taken against the stockbrokers who continue to defame the market by defrauding investors and necessary measures should be put into effect.
The chairman made it clear that “there is nothing dearer to my heart than investor protection, and we will take decisive action if PSX fails to shoulder its responsibility as the front line regulator.”
He expressed his disappointment with the role of auditors of stockbrokers who continue to fail in raising red flags. Instead, irregularities in brokerage houses are being identified by investigations through the joint inspection teams and SECP inspections. The SECP has directed the PSX management to immediately inform all affected investors through newspaper advertisements on how to lodge their claims with the PSX.
Meanwhile, the SECP’s team of inquiry officers from the Securities Market Division that the Chairman sent to Lahore is busy in collecting and analyzing back office data of the broker’s offices in Lahore, Sahiwal, Multan and Bahawalpur.
