SECP Announces Fourth Cohort Under its Regulatory Sandbox

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) will be accepting applications for testing in the regulatory sandbox from May 02, 2023. The applications submission window shall remain open till May 31, 2023. Complete applications can be emailed to: [email protected] The regulatory sandbox – now successfully entering its fourth cohort – provides a tailored regulatory environment that allows entities to conduct limited-scale live tests of innovative products, services, processes, and business models in a controlled and supervised environment. The upcoming fourth cohort is divided into two segments: (i) Islamic Finance, and (ii) Conventional Finance. In the Islamic finance segment, ideas related to Shariah-compliant digital finance (e.g., crowdsourced finance, liquidity management solutions, micro-, and nano-finance), shariah-compliant products (e.g., small ticket savings and sukuk fractionalization), new takaful models and digital intermediation in regulated Islamic financial services shall be preferred. In the conventional finance segment, preference will be given to ideas related to robo-advisory, AI-based automated fund management, asset fractionalization, and single-window lending platforms. Approved applicants, after evaluation, will be allowed to test and experiment with their innovative ideas and solutions generally for a period of six months. Upon completion of the experimentation period, the entities testing in the sandbox will submit a detailed completion report. SECP shall determine the future course of action w.r.t. the tested solutions based on the test results. Further details about the sandbox are available at the SECP website which can be accessed at https://www.secp.gov.pk/regulatory-sandbox/what-is-regulatory-sandbox/. Any queries or questions with respect to the application process can be emailed to: [email protected].