Islamabad bourse on fast track of modernisation

Islamabad Stock Exchange (ISE) has completed the scheme of corporatisation, demutualisation and integration Act 2012 by transferring shares equally among the approved 121 initial shareholders of the exchange. According to a statement issued here, the general body of ISE has unanimously approved the new Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Islamabad Stock Exchange Limited for converting its status to a company limited by shares, as approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in its meeting held here on August 16. The ISE will submit the amended articles along with other relevant documents to the registrar. Within seven days of receipt of this information, the Registrar shall issue a certificate of re-registration to the stock exchange as evidence of its change in status from a company limited by guarantee to a public company limited by shares. The directors of the stock exchange holding office on the date of corporatization shall automatically cease to hold such office on receipt of the certificate of re-registration by the stock exchange, and shall be replaced by the first directors. After completion of this process, the new directors of the exchange will be elected within 30 days of demutualisation, according to the procedure. During July 2012, the mutual funds industry in Pakistan showed sluggish movement and declined 1 per cent month-on-month (MoM) to touch Rs375 billion, as compared to Rs379b, according to an InvestCap research note. Open-ended funds’ size gew 1 per cent MoM to reach Rs351b while closed-ended funds declined by 3 per cent MoM to close at Rs23b. During the month, the income funds category grew 23 per cent MoM, on the back of massive growth in the size of the ABL-Government Securities Fund, which grew 58 per cent MoM to reach Rs55 billion. On the other hand, the money market funds category of open-ended funds declined 14 per cent MoM, while the fund of funds category contracted 42 per cent MoM. During the first seven months of this calendar year (7MCY12), the mutual funds industry has witnessed decent overall growth of 31 per cent, after clocking in at Rs289 billion in December 2011. From gulftoday