‘National Custodial Services’ Launched in Bid to Support Capital Market Operations

National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited has launched its latest service which offers investors a centralized clearing, settlement and custodial function

Karachi - 9^th April, 2015: National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL), which provides clearing and settlement services to all three stock exchanges in Pakistan, announced the formal full launch of its latest service for the capital market investors – National Custodial Services (NCS) at a press conference.

In a bid to further strengthen the efficiency, transparency and convenience of capital market operations, the NCS provides an option to Investors to directly settle their trades and transactions with the NCCPL and also maintain the custody of the securities and cash with NCCPL while they can continue to execute trades and transactions in the capital market with the Trading Right Entitlement Certificate (“TREC”) Holder(s) of their choice. The NCS operates through a user friendly web based Module accessible to an NCS Client.

The press launch of the service was attended by Mr. Nadeem Naqvi, Chairman – NCCPL Board, & Mr. Muhammad Lukman, CEO – NCCPL.

“Such a model offering security and transparency to the investors is the need of the hour,” said Mr. Nadeem Naqvi. “Growing interest of investors in the capital markets, driven by attractive returns, limited availability of alternate investment opportunities and reduction in the returns offered by money market instruments, indicated the need to develop an option like NCS whereby the custody of the securities and cash can be maintained by a separate entity to further strengthen the efficiency and transparency of the capital market operations.” he added.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Muhammad Lukman stated, “The Capital Markets in Pakistan have great potential to attract investments and provide competitive returns; however, providing an efficient and transparent operating process is essential for the continued development of the capital markets. The NCS is an effort made by NCCPL to add to the effectiveness of the capital market operations. It offers safe custody of investors’ cash and securities in a cost effective manner and facilitates the TREC Holders by providing relief in margin and capital adequacy requirements. It is an investor oriented service with complete focus on providing the desired level of confidence and security as well as convenience required by an investor while making investment decisions. I hope that NCS will play a vital role in attracting new interest and retaining existing investors of the capital markets.”