The Central Depositories Act, 1997 brings the capital markets in Pakistan at par with its counterparts in advanced countries in terms of credibility and transparency. The Central Depository Company acts as custodian of shares in same sense as bank is custodian of money. Its most significant function is to facilitate prompt transfer of shares to buyers.You can access their website here https://www.cdcpakistan.com.New investors are best advised to get registered with this institution at the earliest.
The CDC provides depository services to a wide range of Capital Market participants which includes Brokers, Asset Management Companies, Banks (including Custodian Banks) and general retail investors. It also serves to link up the Issuers and Registrars of securities and the market for the purpose of executing corporate actions like disbursement of corporate benefits and carrying out mergers and splits.
The aim of CDC is to operate as a central securities depository on behalf of the financial services industry so as to contribute to the country’s ability to support an effective capital market system which will attract institutional and retail level investors from Pakistan and abroad. CDC is regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). CDC has branches in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad.
Taking another step towards capital market development, recently the CDC has diversified its operations in the following services:
1-Launched in 1999, Investor Account Services (IAS) allows retail investors to open and maintain securities’ accounts directly with CDC.
2-Trustee and Custodial Services (T&C) were introduced in 2002 and enlists Open-end and Closed end Mutual Funds and Voluntary Pension Schemes.
3-Launched in 2008, Share Registrar Services (SRS) provides issuing companies state-of-the-art facilities of registrar and transfer agent services, including registration and verification of shares and records and customer dealing on behalf of issuer companies.