PAKISTAN GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS 100% FOREIGN EQUITY PARTICIPATION

The Pakistan Ministry of Commerce has formally confirmed the June announcement by the country’s Securities & Exchange Commission that foreign companies can hold a 100% ownership of life and non-life insurance companies in Pakistan. It also detailed certain restrictions. Foreign players will be required to bring in a minimum of $4m in foreign exchange, of which $2m would have to be brought in from abroad. There will be no restriction on branch numbers and no regulations on the nationality of staff. The Ministry said that the “new insurance policy aims at increasing penetration, removing impediments to [the] insurance industry’s development and outlining a more rational role of the public sector in line with international practices”.