Foreign national heads Pakistan's stock market for first time

Richard Morin joins PSX amid concerns among stock brokers

KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) has announced that newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Richard Morin joined the bourse on Thursday after following due process of law, setting aside concerns of stock brokers and board members who were sceptical about the hiring of a foreign national.

Morin's appointment came after a Chinese consortium acquired 40% equity stake in the PSX and the listing of 20% PSX shares on the bourse. Brokerage houses control the remaining 40% stake.

"The PSX is being headed for the first time by a foreign national having good command of capital markets," PSX said in a statement.

Last month, a high-ranked official told The Express Tribune that the PSX had given the right to Chinese shareholders to nominate candidates for the top three positions including managing director, chief financial officer and chief regulatory officer.



A couple of brokers, expressing concern over the MD's appointment earlier, said the Canadian national would unnecessarily cost more as he was being hired at a huge salary with special perks including residence allowance and international travel expenses.

Market talk suggests Morin's monthly salary has been set at Rs3 million.

A broker argued the foreign national would not be aware of "our national culture and particularly the stock market culture" and that may prove to be a hurdle to his performance.

Morin has 30 years of experience spread across various emerging markets and in Canada.

According to the PSX, throughout his professional career, Morin has contributed in various segments of financial markets including but not limited to the formulation of securities market regulations and supervision mechanisms, derivative markets, central depositories, clearing systems, government securities' markets and investment advisory.



Morin earned Bachelors in Economics in 1982 from the University of Montreal and Masters in Business Administration in 1988 from McGill University.

During his term at the Montreal Exchange from 1984 to 1995, he held various key positions such as Vice-President (Operations - Derivative Products), Director (Market Quality), Director (Market Development) and as a listing officer.

For two years, he headed the Stock Exchange of Mauritius bringing the Mauritian capital market in line with international standards. From 1999-2001, he served as vice-president of National Bank Securities, the mutual funds and discount brokerage subsidiary of the National Bank of Canada, where he managed client assets of $5 billion.