Working to develop Islamic financial ecosystem: SECP

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) is formulating laws to convert all non-banking financial services, including the capital market, insurance sector, leasing and savings funds, to Sharia-compliant mode. However, a weak understanding of tax authorities and banking channels is one of the key impediments in this regard to meeting the Federal Shariat Court’s directive of converting all kinds and types of banking and financial services to the Islamic system by 2027. While the entire banking system is the domain of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the other financing including insurance, leasing, capital markets, modarabas, etc are under the jurisdiction of the SECP. Media was informed at a capacity-building workshop on Thursday that the popularity of Sharia-complaint products was increasing globally but the Muslim countries lagged in this regard.