Participants at the corporate governance roundtable (Photo: CIPE)
In 2002, the Code of Corporate Governance in Pakistan was introduced via listing regulations. In 2006, at CIPE’s first roundtable on corporage governance in Karachi over 100 participants unanimously agreed that the code needs revisiting to incorporate modern best practices.
CIPE actively worked with the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance and, in 2009, a taskforce was formed to evaluate the code in the light of the international best practices. The taskforce shared a draft with over 350 stakeholders at roundtables organized by CIPE. After incorporating recommendations, the draft was sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for consideration.
On CIPE’s advice, in January of this year, the SECP posted amended draft code on its website, seeking input from the wider business community. This resulted in further deliberations.
At the latest stakeholders’ meeting held on 8th of September 2011 in Lahore, Chairman of the SECP said that all of these changes are being made to help move Pakistan more in line with international best practices.
The revised code focuses on key areas such as improving the role of independent directors, emphasizing director’s professional education, increased disclosure requirements, stronger audit committee, and introduction of and Human Resource Committee.
