New SECP circular streamlines corporate bank account opening

August 25, 2025 (MLN): The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), in its drive to promote standardization and uniformity has issued a circular under the Companies Act, 2017, prescribing a Standard Format of Board Resolution for the opening of corporate bank accounts by the companies.

This reform is one of the initiatives taken by SECP under the umbrella of theme if its 7th Registrar Conference “From paper to Platform”

The Circular has been issued after extensive consultations with the Pakistan Banks’ Association (PBA) and other stakeholders. Previously, the absence of a prescribed format had resulted in inconsistent documentation, frequent compliance queries and processing delays particularly for start-ups and companies with foreign directors thereby resulting in delayed FDI.

The introduction of the standardized resolution will mitigate these challenges by ensuring uniformity, facilitating expeditious onboarding of corporate clients by financial institutions through reduced compliance-related queries, enhanced transparency and security via QR code-enabled digital verification to safeguard against forgery or unauthorized alterations.

Now with this standard resolution format in place traditional issues like diverse documentation requirements and remote verification issues will be addressed.

Furthermore, it will reinforce regulatory oversight through a secure and reliable documentation framework, while delivering significant time and cost efficiencies for both companies and financial institutions.

The standard Board resolution to be submitted electronically shall be digitally signed and authenticated by an authorized officer thereby enabling a shift towards a paperless environment.

To strengthen transparency and secured verification, the use of QR codes is encouraged for instant verification of key details, including company name, date of resolution, names of directors present and authorized signatories.

Financial institutions are encouraged to accept QR-enabled board resolutions in the prescribed format, subject to their internal due diligence.

This measure will minimize verification delays and improve the compliance verification process.

This initiative reflects SECP’s continued commitment to streamlining corporate practices, advancing digital transformation and strengthening Pakistan’s ease of doing business framework.

The Standard Board Resolution format is available for download on SECP’s official website.

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