Broke-raging clients: KSE writes to brokerage house, wants investors’ requests met

Tells ACE Securities to facilitate share transfer, cash withdrawal needs.

KARACHI: Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Managing Director Nadeem Naqvi has said the exchange has written a letter to ACE Securities, asking its management to immediately meet investors’ demands for share transfers and cash withdrawals.

Speaking to The Express Tribune on Friday, Naqvi confirmed that many investors have approached the KSE with regard to ACE Securities whose management has not been acting upon their requests for withdrawal from their cash books.

The stock market has been abuzz with reports of at least one brokerage house failing to honour investors’ requests following the alleged escape of their owners from the country.

Naqvi added the amount involved is around the Rs40-million mark. “We’ll leave no stone unturned to protect investors’ money. It’s unfortunate that we’ve received such complaints about a broker,” he said.



Despite repeated attempts for two consecutive days, no one picked up any of the 12 telephone lines listed on the brokerage house’s official website during office hours. Unconfirmed reports say Chairman Iqbal Ismail and CEO Haroon Iqbal have gone out of the country after telling their investors that they will make cash payments following the sale of their personal property in Karachi.

Stock brokers meet their investors’ requests for cash withdrawals and share transfers typically in three to five days. Therefore, even a hint of a default results in immediate requests for share transfer/cash withdrawals, which creates further panic among investors.

The exchange has not yet suspended the trading activity of ACE Securities because investors’ complaints against the brokerage are still being investigated.

As a precaution, however, the exchange is monitoring all trades carried out through the terminal of ACE Securities in order to ensure that it does not take large, risky positions in the stock market, a source in the KSE compliance department said.

Another brokerage house, Axis Global, has also been in the limelight for the last one week, as rumours did the rounds about its failure to honour clients’ requests for share transfers. Speaking to The Express Tribune, a spokesman for the brokerage house categorically denied the allegation.

“Our opponents are spreading such rumours. We’re very much in the market and have honoured each and every request that our clients have sent our way,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2015.

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