SECP To Allow Licensed Investment Advisors To Offer Employer Pension Funds.

ISLAMABAD -- The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has allowed Investment Advisors licensed by the SECP to offer Employer Pension Funds.

This will be done as part of the new 'Employer Pension Funds and allowing Asset Management Companies (AMCs) to offer annuity payments of pension under the Voluntary Pension System' concept, for which SECP has also begun a 14-day public consultation period. The newly introduced concept of Employer Pension Funds will address the reluctance of employers to offer VPS as well as provide greater portability and flexibility to participants. Retaining the primary structure of pension funds, the Employer Pension Funds will have flexible seed capital requirements as well as bilaterally agreed expense ratios with no sales load chargeable to participants.

Similarly, there shall be no requirement of disclosing the expense ratios and management fee on Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan (MUFAP) and Asset Management Companies' websites, along with removal of requirement to publish rankings on MUFAP web site. Through these amendments, the practice of charging selling and marketing expenses to pension funds shall be discontinued...