Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan to monitor Ponzi schemes

Dawn reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has signed off on a Corporate Intelligence Unit (CIU) tasked with finding registered companies that may run Ponzi or pyramid schemes. Its remit also covers firms taking deposits or lending without a licence, as well as companies operating beyond their approved objectives.

The unit will comb through open sources such as newspapers, social platforms and online promotions to flag potential violations before any complaints come in. Verified leads will be sent to the relevant SECP departments for inquiry or enforcement, and details may be passed to the FIA, NCCIA, State Bank of Pakistan and NAB where appropriate. The commission expects the unit to bolster its early-warning capacity and aims to curb additional losses for investors.

Chairman Dr Kabir said the unit would sharpen risk-based monitoring by turning publicly sourced material into confirmed regulatory leads. The CIU operates under the Chairman's Secretariat and was set up under Section 20 of the SECP Act 1997. By tracking repeated patterns across several public sources, it is also meant to point scrutiny toward emerging risks.