CORPORATE WINDOW: The interest rate game

The financial sector has done well in the last couple of years — with high interest rates, the fixed-income side has been the winner, says Nadir Rahman, CEO of Faysal Asset Management Limited, a subsidiary of Faysal Bank Limited. But in terms of equity, not much has changed, he observes. The companies that were popular a decade ago are still the ones being bought and sold. New companies that do enter are not big movers and shakers; we need some ‘monsters’ in the league of Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, MCB and United Bank Limited, he adds. However, the retail investor base has started growing over the last 18 months. Smaller cities have shown a notable uptick in new stock exchange accounts, fueled by digitisation. As an asset management company with ties to EasyPaisa, Faysal Funds has enabled even small-scale investors to participate with as little as Rs500. Since EasyPaisa’s introduction, over 200,000 investors have joined Faysal Funds. But, as Mr Rahman points out, without substantial new companies, this surge cannot become a game changer.