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Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Shamim Ahmad Khan said (CDC) represented an outstanding example of the close coordination between the stock exchanges and the listed companies.

"The establishment of the CDC is only part of the process of transformation of the capital market structure which has taken place during the last three years," he said.

He said the road map for the restructuring of the capital market by provided by the capital market development programme of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Khan said, of the 765 companies listed with the stock exchanges in Pakistan, 501 were having problems and not paying dividends to the shareholders.

He said the SECP proceeded against 172 companies under Companies Ordinance. "Of these 42 have paid dividends to the shareholders while 90 others promised to pay the dividends by March next," he said.

To a question regarding the non-enlistment of textile sector companies with the CDS, he said the SECP was trying to resolve the issues confronting the sector which remained in problems for a couple of years.

He said a recent decision made by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) would also make the textile sector to deal through the CDC.

CDC and Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) Chairman Arif Habib said that the implementation of the Central Depository System (SDS) in Pakistan had ushered in a new era of a fast, modern and efficient delivery and settlement system.

"It is a geographically neutral depository as the investors from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad can now make deliveries with equal ease," he added.

He said the CDS had not only eliminated the process of physical handling of the securities but also provided an expeditious and instant transfer system from one counter party to another electronically.

He said 97 percent of the stock exchanges' trading volumes were being settled through electronic book entry in the Central Depository System.

Regarding the introduction of investor account services in the CDS, he said 440 investor accounts had been opened in Karachi.

He said the CDC had recently inducted the debt securities in the book entry form to help promote the debt market in the country.

He said the company had also reduced the transaction charges from 5 paisa to 3 paisa per share.

Earlier, Najam Ali, the Chief Executive Officer of the CDC said the volume of capitalisation in the Karachi Stock Exchange had touched the mark of Rs 470 billion by January 22 from December 31'st, 364 billion.

About the percentage of the shares in the CDS with reference to the issued capital, he said the number of the shares in the CDS presently stood 2.86 billion worth Rs 58.7 billion. "I was 21.6 percent of the total issued capital," Ali said. APP