Central Depository Company of
Pakistan Limited (CDC) is considered as the backbone of Pakistan's Capital
market by serving as an integral infrastructure institution for the
book-keeping of securities and settlement of trades executed in the Stock
Market. CDC started its operations in 1997 under the Regulatory ambit of an
exclusive Act passed by the Parliament of Pakistan titled as "Central
Depositories Act 1997". CDC started off as the custodial service provider
for the Stock Market, and now 25 years later, CDC is providing efficient and
trust worthy custodial services with assets worth almost PKR 5 trillion in its
custody as the Central Depository of Securities. CDC stands tall as an
infrastructure entity giving the economy the innovation to progress and utility
to function by being the trusted custodian partner and operating one of the
largest databases in the country's economy in a safe and secure manner using
the highest standards of information security. Business Diversification
Besides being the sole depository
of book-entry securities in Pakistan Capital Market, Central Depository of
Pakistan has also been playing the important roles of facilitator,
infrastructure architect and information sharing hub for Pakistan's financial
eco-system. Today, CDC has successfully diversified its businesses in line with
its vision to achieve sustainability and greater relevance through
diversification and digitization and is now providing services to almost every
segment of Pakistan's financial system including Mutual Funds, Insurance, Real
estate, etc. In addition to its core function of being the Central Depository
of securities, CDC's businesses include the following:
Investor Account Services (IAS):
In 1999, CDC started offering Investor Account Services (IAS) that allows
retail investors to directly open and maintain accounts in the Central
Depository System (CDS) for safe custody and electronic settlement of book
entry securities. Investor Accounts are under complete control of CDC and are
operated on direct written instructions of the Investor Account Holders. Today,
the total market capitalization of securities being maintained through IAS is
worth more than PKR 3 trillion. CDC is among the very few depositories of the
world who are offering this novel service.
Trustee & Custodial services
for the Asset Management Industry: CDC is also the trusted custodial service
partner of the Asset Management Industry with more than 96% of assets under its
custody.
Share Registrar Services:
Additionally, CDC has been successfully providing
Share Registrar Services through
its subsidiary and is the number 1 Registrar
Service Provider in the Capital
Market.
BPO Services: CDC is providing
back office outsourcing services of fund accounting and administration to the
asset management industry through its subsidiary ITMinds Limited.
Solutions for the Insurance
Industry: CDC has been providing novel solutions to the Insurance Industry for
Cross-Industry Information sharing to enhance risk mitigation and improve
underwriting.
Digitization for Ease of Doing
Business:
As part of its digitization
initiatives and to help increase investor convenience, CDC has a full-fledged
Customer Service Portal (CSP) CDC Access which includes consolidated portfolio
tracking, digital account opening, online transactions, eDividend Repository
with details of dividends and corporate, elPO facility for online subscriptions
and payments for securities offered via the Initial Public Offering (IPOs),
Investor Portfolio Services (IPS) facilities for investment in Government
Securities, etc.
Additionally, CDC has introduced
many novel solutions for effecting ease of doing business, including eVoting,
eMeeting & eProxy solutions for issuers and shareholders, Zakat Repository
for centralized access of Zakat affidavits and Emlaak Financials which is a
unique digital aggregator platform for mutual funds with digital account
opening in AMCs, online transaction and consolidated portfolio tracking across
the entire mutual fund industry of Pakistan.
CDC has also been the trusted
implementation partner of State Bank for important national level projects. CDC
plays a pivotal role in channelizing investments in Stock market by overseas
Pakistanis through RDA by acting as the information. hub between Banks and
Stock Market participants for the Roshan Equity Investment project, CDC was
also SBP's first implementation partner for Raast micro-payment gateway in
CDC's use case of Dividend Disbursement. CDC has recently successfully executed
the Shared KYC Project by facilitating information sharing among banking
institutions and capital market entities for Stock Market account- opening.
Number of Shares in CDS
Value of Shares in CDS
Total Number of Sub-Accounts (Individual & Corporate)
Total Number of IAS Accounts (Individual, RDA & Corporate)
No of Securities
Value of Assets under Trusteeship
No. of companies for which CDC is performing Registrar function 250
Value of Assets with ITMinds
Number of Insurance policies in Insurance Repository
Key Strengths & Capabilities
180.54 billion
PKR 4.918 trillion
314,872
72,742
1,084
PKR 1.45 trillion
PKR 167 billion
3.5 million
IT Infrastructure: All of CDC's
systems are backed by a highly advanced IT infrastructure which is established
in accordance with global & industry best practices for security,
scalability and ITGC (IT General Controls), as CDC systems have cross
institutional users, such as retail investors, AMCs, banks, brokerage houses,
registrars/transfer agents, share issuing companies and insurance companies.
Information Security: All businesses of CDC are certified against the globally
accepted ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard, demonstrating its commitment and focus to
safeguard the information critical to the functioning of Pakistan Capital
Market. CDC's enterprise wide security policy includes regular risk
assessments, continuous: IT audits and drills, awareness sessions, real-time
SOC monitoring, secure SDLC, regular penetration testing and regular compliance
audits for certifications. Business Continuity Management/Disaster Recovery: CDC
holds the unique privilege to be among the very few organizations across the
globe, few international depositories and the very first organization in
Pakistan to achieve the ISO/IEC 22301:2012 for its Business Continuity Program.
BCP at CDC is benchmarked with the best practices taken from across the globe
like maintaining two back-up sites / data centers, regular BCP drills, etc.
Implementation of ERM Framework:
CDC has implemented an Enterprise-wide Risk Management framework based on the
internationally accepted COSO framework to ensure risk identification,
mitigation and management of related systems and internal controls to safeguard
assets, resources, reputation and interests of the company and shareholders.
International affiliations:
Asia-Pacific Central Securities
Depository Group (ACG): CDC is a member of ACG, which is an international
organization facilitating the exchange of information, promoting mutual
assistance among member securities depositories and clearing organizations in
the Asia Pacific region. In 2013, Mr. Muhammad Hanif Jakhura, CEO-CDC was
elected as the Executive Committee Chairman of ACG for the term of 2014-2016.
By virtue of this election, CDC was elected as the ACG Secretariat for the term
of 2014-2016. Mr. Aftab Ahmed Diwan, CEO-CDC (2017-2018) served as the Vice
Chairman of ACG Executive Committee. CDC hosted ACG's 10th Annual General
Meeting in 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan, which was attended by around 60 delegates
from 18 regional countries.
CDC has also introduced the
"Risk and Recovery Management Task Force" in ACG whose objective is
to promote Risk Management culture among ACG members and to develop an effective
Risk Management Framework. CDC was elected as the convener of the same.
World Forum of CSDs (WFC): Mr.
Aftab Ahmed Diwan, CEO-CDC (2017-2018), while serving as the Vice Chairman of
ACG Executive Committee, represented the Asia Pacific region on the board of
World Forum of CSDS (WFC) which is a group of five regional CSD associations
that include Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East, the Americas, Eurasia and
Europe.
Association of National Numbering
Agencies (ANNA):CDC, along with the depositories around the world, serves as a
member to the Association of National
Numbering Agencies (ANNA), a
global representative of numbering agencies operating around the world where
member companies regulate identification of local securities for trading
locally and internationally.
Memorandums of Understanding
(MoUs) with International Depositories:CDC has also signed a number of
Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with international depositories to gain
benefits of cross-border cooperation, explore avenues of mutual assistance and
enhance coordination. Investor protection measures
CDC has been continuously
implementing, reviewing and ensuring various measures for investor protection,
including the following:
IVR/SMS/WEB ACCESS/E-ALERTS
eStatements for Sub-Accounts and IAS account holders
Unique Identification Number (UIN)
Pre-defined reason codes for execution of transaction in CDS
Transfer of securities against market trades directly from the
respective
account of investors
Restriction on overnight parking of securities in Main Account
⚫ Limit on Assets under Custody
Daily Compliance
⚫ Periodic investor awareness session
programs
⚫ Online portal
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
CDC has developed a carefully
charted plan to establish itself as the champion of Environment, Social and
Governance (ESG) development in Pakistan and fully acknowledges its role as a
good corporate citizen and strives for the betterment of society through CSR
Funds to pave the way for ESG development in Pakistan.
Some important initiatives
undertaken by CDC in this regard include programs aimed at protecting rights of
minorities, environmental related projects like reduction. of carbon footprint,
tree plantation drives, etc., collaborations with NGOS for various CSR related
activities and contributions, supporting youth and startups, etc.
On the occasion of CDC's Silver Jubilee Anniversary marking 25 Years of Excellence by the Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited, the Commemorative Postage Stamp of Rs. 20/- denomination is being issued by Pakistan Post on May 23rd, 2023.
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