Businesses seek 'validation' for FATF compliance.

KARACHI -- There's a growing awareness among Pakistani businesses to get themselves 'validated' by global market intelligence firms amid increasingly stringent compliance requirements by supra-national bodies like the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

'We help Pakistani businesses create a transparent layer that gives them credibility required under the rigorous compliance regime,' said Nauman Lakhani, country manager for international data and analytics firm Dun and Bradstreet, while speaking to Dawn on Wednesday.

The only multinational player operating in Pakistan in the market analytics segment, Dun and Bradstreet claims to have 'up-to-date and timely information' on almost 100,000 Pakistani firms.

Last month, the global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog removed Pakistan from a list of countries under 'increased monitoring' after four years. The country received the upgrade after it 'strengthened the effectiveness' of its anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism regime.

'Our focus is on getting more and more Pakistani firms prepared to build gainful relationships with international counterparts. We're scaling up our local business,' he said in an interview that coincided with the company's announcement on Wednesday about extending its data coverage to 'over half-a-billion' businesses internationally.

Besides other functions, the company performs pre-KYC (know-your-customer) for international as well as local firms that want to do cross-border business. It gathers market intelligence and verifies the credentials of...