The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has issued no objection certificates (NOCs) to the trust deeds of four (04) voluntary pension fund plans, two of which are Shariah-compliant.
Further details revealed that two pension fund managers (PFM) will offer these programmes to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government workers. The trustee of this money?would be the?Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDC).
The Voluntary Pension System (VPS) is a defined contribution pension programme that is open to all adult Pakistanis who have a computerised national identity card (CNIC).
It was established by the Voluntary Pension System Rules, 2005, under which employed and self-employed people?can willingly contribute to a pension fund administered by PFM during their working lives in order to provide a monthly income after retirement.
Moreover, these new pension plans will be funded by a combination of employee and government payments, assuring economic sustainability in the future. These pension funds will?be administered by a PFM that is licenced by SECP and registered with the KPK government.
In order to protect unitholders’ investments across different schemes introduced by asset management companies (AMCs) and to improve transparency and efficiency, SECP specified rating requirements for investment in short-term debt instruments by open-ended collective investment schemes (CISs) last week.
The new standards were announced in Circular No. 9 of 2023 and can be found on the SECP website. The rules were included as changes to the already issued Circular No. 7 of 2009 (Categorization of Open-End Collective Investment Schemes).
The changes were made with Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited (PACRA),?the Mutual Fund Association of Pakistan (MUFAP), and VIS Credit Rating Co. Limited (VIS) in mind.
The credit rating of any short-term securities in the portfolio of a money market scheme will?not be lower than A1 (A One), however,?the rating of any short-term security in the portfolio of an income scheme shall not be lower than A 3 (A Three).