ISLAMABAD: In order to promote innovation in the financial sector and toencourage startups, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan(SECP) has issued Regulatory Sandbox Guidelines, 2019.
This would be Pakistan’s first regulatory sandbox in the financial servicesindustry.
“The guidelines are aimed at reducing regulatory obligations by allowingtesting of new products, business models and services in the regulatorysandbox,” said a statement issued by the commission.
“The regulatory sandbox will be available for all the regulated sectors ofthe SECP i.e. insurance, capital markets, non-banking financial servicesand overall corporate sector.”
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The sandbox is a tailored regulatory environment to conduct limited scale,live tests of innovative products, services, processes, and/ or businessmodels in a controlled environment. Such tests will be conducted underclose supervision of the regulator for a specific period so as to assessthe viability and compatibility and conducive regulatory environment forthe innovative solutions.
Regulatory sandboxes are becoming increasingly popular regulatory toolsinternationally. As of now, more than 50 countries have introduced theirrespective regulatory sandboxes with similar objectives.
