Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDCPL)
Brief Introduction
This Memorandum of Understanding between Central Securities Depository of Iran and Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDCPL) was signed by the CSDI Chief Executive Officer, Hamed Soltani Nejad and CDCPL Chief Executive Officer, Mohammad Hanif Jakhura on the sidelines of the sixth Exhibition of Exchange, Bank & Insurance (FINEX 2012) in Tehran, Iran on February 1, 2013.
Objectives
- Exchange of knowledge in CSD operations, legal frameworks, business and transaction models via organizing joint workshops, staff exchange
- The linkage of two countries' CSD bodies
An Introduction to Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDCPL)
In the past two decades, Central Depository Company has evolved as the infrastructure backbone and the Ultimate Custodian of the Pakistan Capital Market.
Established as a securities depository, CDC is the sole entity handling the electronic (paperless) settlement of transactions carried out at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. Through efficient functioning of CDC, all the market settlement is in book entry form. As per the Companies Act, 2017, CDC holds the status of Public Interest Company & Large Sized Company since it holds assets of general public in fiduciary capacity.
We are regulated by SECP and have offices in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. CDC is ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified for Information Security Management and ISO/IEC 22301:2012 certified for its Business Continuity Management Program. It is also an Approved Employer by ACCA, ICAP, ICMAP, ICAEW and CIMA.
CDC is a member of Asia-Pacific Central Securities Depository Group (ACG), which is an international organization facilitating the exchange of information, promoting mutual assistance among member securities depositories and clearing organizations in the Asia Pacific region. Late Mr. Muhammad Hanif Jakhura, CEO-CDC (2002-2017) was elected as the Executive Committee Chairman of ACG for the term of 2014-2016.
By virtue of this election, CDC served as ACG Secretariat for the same term. Mr. Aftab Ahmed Diwan, CEO-CDC (2017-2018) served as the Vice Chairman of ACG Executive Committee and represented the Asia Pacific region on the board of World Forum of CSDs (WFC) which is a group of five regional CSD associations that include Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East, the Americas, Eurasia and Europe.
Primarily, CDC’s function was to operate the Central Depository System (CDS) for all financial instruments traded in Pakistan Capital Market. However, with the ever growing need for efficient and technology driven mechanisms in other markets and industries, we have diversified our business beyond the traditional depository domain. Our services portfolio is as follows:
- Investor Account Services
- E-Services: Launched in 2017, a customer convenience initiative by CDC, in the form of a web portal offering the following free-of-cost facilities:
- Centralized e-IPO System: Applications for subscription of shares offered to general public can be made electronically and payments can be made by Internet/Mobile banking, ATMs etc., avoiding the hassle of physical submission of IPO application and visiting the bank.
- E-Dividend Repository: Provides investors consolidated data of all their cash benefits due and credited by issuers, and in case their dividends have not been credited, the reason for non-disbursement of dividend will also be available
Joint Projects
The 1st International Market Linkage Seminar was held in May 2013 at the CSDI headquarters in Tehran. The event was attended by top market executives from several Asian countries, including South Korea, Pakistan, Indonesia and board members of the Asia-Pacific CSD Group (ACG). CDCPL's Director of Marketing and Customer Services, Ijaz Ali Shah was one of the keynote speakers at the event.
CSDI, an ACG member since 2012, has become the grouping's board member since 2016. CDCPL is also an ACG board member the fact that paved the way for joint cooperation between the two companies in various areas, especially the exchange of knowledge and experience and the promotion of multilateral cooperation between the member companies. Also, CSDI and CDCPL as co-members of the ACG’s "Risk Management and Marketing" working group have ongoing cooperation to discover risks and ways to manage them in both the CSD industry and in members of the working group.
- Cooperation on Standardization of Mutual Fund Pre/Post-trade Operations
CSDI and CDCPL are working jointly on the project of standardization of pre- and post-trade procedures for settlement operations of mutual funds, as well as on facilitating cross-border transactions related to the financial instrument in thirteen member countries of Asia Fund Standardization Forum (AFSF).
