ISLAMABAD, May 19: After successful programs in Islamabad and Lahore, Securities and Exchange Commission Pakistan (SECP) conducted another two-day successful Faculty Development Program in Karachi. It was done in collaboration with the Higher Education Commission (HEC), World Bank and UKAid. The event hosted business faculty members from more than 15 universities of Karachi and adjoining cities.
 
The program was part of the series of sessions held over the past year as per the Investor Education Program. The objective of the program was to bring a higher level of awareness among the distinguished faculty members regarding the financial sectors regulated by the SECP and the investment avenues available to investors. The dissemination of the relevant information is an important step towards making sure that the investor may be able to protect itself from financial frauds.
 
A number of renowned experts on the subjects from JS Investments Limited, Arif-Habib Dolmen REIT Management Limited, Jubilee Life Insurance Company Limited, Meezan Bank Limited, J.A.S.B & Associates, Pakistan Mercantile Exchange Limited, Nael Capital (Pvt) Limited and Core Advisors (Pvt) Limited facilitated the seminar. Sessions were conducted to provide detailed information on mutual funds, voluntary pension schemes, investment advisory, REITs, insurance, incorporation of companies, commodity markets, equity and capital markets, Sharia-compliant investments and private equities.
 
The speakers presented SWOT analyses of their relevant sectors, highlighting the importance of investing while keeping abreast of the required knowledge, and also welcomed queries and questions of the attending participants, generating a lively discussion. While conveying their appreciation for the initiative, the participating faculty members also expressed their desire to sign MOUs with their respective universities to conduct sessions on investor education.
 
The participants represented the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Lahore School of Economics, SZABIST Hyderabad, Iqra University, Hamdard University, University of Turbat, Bahauddin Zakaria University, Isra University Hyderabad, Jinnah University for Women, Institute of Business and Technology, Institute of Business Administration, Sukkur, Sindh Madressatul Islam University, Mehran UET, Fast School of Management and Greenwich University.
 
The SECP, in collaboration with HEC, is committed to creating awareness and imparting of information on the financial markets to the academic sector of Pakistan through trained faculty members. Higher level of financial literacy can only be attained by forging alliances with educational institutions and with active and continued support of the faculty members. To achieve this objective, the SECP has developed structured material and a detailed toolkit in collaboration with the World Bank, which is to be shared with the participants for their continuing assistance.