Business

From the ashes: SECP lifts curbs on KASB Securities

Restores its status as brokerage house on KSE, PMEX

Our Correspondent May 20, 2015

Individual investors owned 21.4% shares while associated companies, such as KASB Corporation, owned about 1.1% shares in KASB Securities, a publicly listed company. STOCK IMAGE

KARACHI: KASB Securities has said the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has lifted all restrictions placed on KASB Securities and that its status of a brokerage house has been fully restored on both the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX) with immediate effect.

In an email sent to its clients on Wednesday, KASB Securities reassured investors that the brokerage house would “continue to operate in the same manner and environment as before” following its acquisition by Bank Islami.

“We wish to once again state that the events that unfolded on KASB Securities were completely unforeseen and a result of a regulatory action on KASB Bank (our then majority shareholder), and not on KASB Securities,” it said, adding the last six months had been of ‘immense challenge’ to both the management as well as customers.

Bank Islami acquired KASB Securities on May 8 after the former took over KASB Bank, the brokerage house’s parent company, at a nominal value of Rs1,000.

KASB Bank, which ceased to exist after the central bank cancelled its banking licence on May 7, held the largest stake (77.1%) in KASB Securities at the end of 2014. Individual investors owned 21.4% shares while associated companies, such as KASB Corporation, owned about 1.1% shares in KASB Securities, a publicly listed company.

In its statement, KASB Securities claimed it catered to over 22,000 retail as well as institutional domestic and international clients. It added the market share of KASB Securities stood at more than 12% of all trades executed and more than 20% of all foreign trades executed on the KSE during the last five years.

KASB Securities posted a net profit of Rs108.6 million in 2014, up 33.4% from its earnings in the preceding year.

Being a subsidiary of KASB Bank, KASB Securities used its parent company for a “majority of its banking arrangements, including daily clearing of all transactions executed on the KSE”. Resultantly, the moratorium on KASB Bank imposed on November 15 worsened KASB Securities’ liquidity position as its funds remained frozen in the accounts of its parent banking institution.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2015.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

COMMENTS (1)

ilyas | 9 years ago | Reply The big question is way forward and historical data. Which bank will support KASB Sec. ? without credit lines the firm is doomed, it has already lost many clients to other brokerage houses. The future simply looks bleak.

Replying to X