April 6, 2021: To spur innovation in its regulated sectors, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has announced the launch of the second cohort of its Regulatory Sandbox.
The Regulatory Sandbox is a tailored regulatory environment that allows entities/firms to conduct limited-scale live tests of innovative products, services, processes, and business models in a controlled environment. SECP had earlier last year issued the Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines 2019.
Under the second cohort, the application window will be open from April 15, 2021, till May 14, 2021, for all eligible persons including registered companies, unregistered startups, and FinTech firms. The unregistered entities would have to get registered upon successful experiment. The application form, eligibility criteria, and related documents are provided in the Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines placed on SECP’s website.
The Commission has formed a six-member committee, headed by Chairman SECP Aamir Khan to evaluate the applications. In the second cohort preference will be given to innovation in the areas of Digital Assets/Security Token Offerings (STOs), Non-Bank Financial Companies, Blockchain/ Distributed Ledger Solutions for Capital Markets, Digital Identity/AML/KYC, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Robotic Processes Automation based solutions. Female entrepreneurs are highly encouraged to apply.
All the applications will undergo preliminary screening and detailed evaluation. Successful applicants will be allowed to test and experiment with their innovative ideas and solutions for a period of six months. Upon completion of the experimentation period, the entities registered in Sandbox will submit a detailed completion report to SECP, following which future course of action for the tested solutions will be determined.
Complete applications with all the requisite information can be emailed to sandbox@secp.gov.pk
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