Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDC) is considered as the backbone of Pakistan's Capital market by serving as an integral infrastructure institution for the book-keeping of securities and settlement of trades executed in the Stock Market. CDC started its operations in 1997 under the Regulatory ambit of an exclusive Act passed by the Parliament of Pakistan titled as "Central Depositories Act 1997". CDC started off as the custodial service provider for the Stock Market, and now 25 years later, CDC is providing efficient and trust worthy custodial services with assets worth almost PKR 5 trillion in its custody as the Central Depository of Securities. CDC stands tall as an infrastructure entity giving the economy the innovation to progress and utility to function by being the trusted custodian partner and operating one of the largest databases in the country's economy in a safe and secure manner using the highest standards of information security. Business Diversification
Besides being the sole depository of book-entry securities in Pakistan Capital Market, Central Depository of Pakistan has also been playing the important roles of facilitator, infrastructure architect and information sharing hub for Pakistan's financial eco-system. Today, CDC has successfully diversified its businesses in line with its vision to achieve sustainability and greater relevance through diversification and digitization and is now providing services to almost every segment of Pakistan's financial system including Mutual Funds, Insurance, Real estate, etc. In addition to its core function of being the Central Depository of securities, CDC's businesses include the following:
Investor Account Services (IAS): In 1999, CDC started offering Investor Account Services (IAS) that allows retail investors to directly open and maintain accounts in the Central Depository System (CDS) for safe custody and electronic settlement of book entry securities. Investor Accounts are under complete control of CDC and are operated on direct written instructions of the Investor Account Holders. Today, the total market capitalization of securities being maintained through IAS is worth more than PKR 3 trillion. CDC is among the very few depositories of the world who are offering this novel service.
Trustee & Custodial services for the Asset Management Industry: CDC is also the trusted custodial service partner of the Asset Management Industry with more than 96% of assets under its custody.
Share Registrar Services: Additionally, CDC has been successfully providing
Share Registrar Services through its subsidiary and is the number 1 Registrar
Service Provider in the Capital Market.
BPO Services: CDC is providing back office outsourcing services of fund accounting and administration to the asset management industry through its subsidiary ITMinds Limited.
Solutions for the Insurance Industry: CDC has been providing novel solutions to the Insurance Industry for Cross-Industry Information sharing to enhance risk mitigation and improve underwriting.
Digitization for Ease of Doing Business:
As part of its digitization initiatives and to help increase investor convenience, CDC has a full-fledged Customer Service Portal (CSP) CDC Access which includes consolidated portfolio tracking, digital account opening, online transactions, eDividend Repository with details of dividends and corporate, elPO facility for online subscriptions and payments for securities offered via the Initial Public Offering (IPOs), Investor Portfolio Services (IPS) facilities for investment in Government Securities, etc.
Additionally, CDC has introduced many novel solutions for effecting ease of doing business, including eVoting, eMeeting & eProxy solutions for issuers and shareholders, Zakat Repository for centralized access of Zakat affidavits and Emlaak Financials which is a unique digital aggregator platform for mutual funds with digital account opening in AMCs, online transaction and consolidated portfolio tracking across the entire mutual fund industry of Pakistan.
CDC has also been the trusted implementation partner of State Bank for important national level projects. CDC plays a pivotal role in channelizing investments in Stock market by overseas Pakistanis through RDA by acting as the information. hub between Banks and Stock Market participants for the Roshan Equity Investment project, CDC was also SBP's first implementation partner for Raast micro-payment gateway in CDC's use case of Dividend Disbursement. CDC has recently successfully executed the Shared KYC Project by facilitating information sharing among banking institutions and capital market entities for Stock Market account- opening.
Number of Shares in CDS
Value of Shares in CDS
Total Number of Sub-Accounts (Individual & Corporate)
Total Number of IAS Accounts (Individual, RDA & Corporate)
No of Securities
Value of Assets under Trusteeship
No. of companies for which CDC is performing Registrar function 250
Value of Assets with ITMinds
Number of Insurance policies in Insurance Repository
Key Strengths & Capabilities
180.54 billion
PKR 4.918 trillion
314,872
72,742
1,084
PKR 1.45 trillion
PKR 167 billion
3.5 million
IT Infrastructure: All of CDC's systems are backed by a highly advanced IT infrastructure which is established in accordance with global & industry best practices for security, scalability and ITGC (IT General Controls), as CDC systems have cross institutional users, such as retail investors, AMCs, banks, brokerage houses, registrars/transfer agents, share issuing companies and insurance companies. Information Security: All businesses of CDC are certified against the globally accepted ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard, demonstrating its commitment and focus to safeguard the information critical to the functioning of Pakistan Capital Market. CDC's enterprise wide security policy includes regular risk assessments, continuous: IT audits and drills, awareness sessions, real-time SOC monitoring, secure SDLC, regular penetration testing and regular compliance audits for certifications. Business Continuity Management/Disaster Recovery: CDC holds the unique privilege to be among the very few organizations across the globe, few international depositories and the very first organization in Pakistan to achieve the ISO/IEC 22301:2012 for its Business Continuity Program. BCP at CDC is benchmarked with the best practices taken from across the globe like maintaining two back-up sites / data centers, regular BCP drills, etc.
Implementation of ERM Framework: CDC has implemented an Enterprise-wide Risk Management framework based on the internationally accepted COSO framework to ensure risk identification, mitigation and management of related systems and internal controls to safeguard assets, resources, reputation and interests of the company and shareholders.
International affiliations:
Asia-Pacific Central Securities Depository Group (ACG): CDC is a member of ACG, which is an international organization facilitating the exchange of information, promoting mutual assistance among member securities depositories and clearing organizations in the Asia Pacific region. In 2013, Mr. Muhammad Hanif Jakhura, CEO-CDC was elected as the Executive Committee Chairman of ACG for the term of 2014-2016. By virtue of this election, CDC was elected as the ACG Secretariat for the term of 2014-2016. Mr. Aftab Ahmed Diwan, CEO-CDC (2017-2018) served as the Vice Chairman of ACG Executive Committee. CDC hosted ACG's 10th Annual General Meeting in 2006 in Karachi, Pakistan, which was attended by around 60 delegates from 18 regional countries.
CDC has also introduced the "Risk and Recovery Management Task Force" in ACG whose objective is to promote Risk Management culture among ACG members and to develop an effective Risk Management Framework. CDC was elected as the convener of the same.
World Forum of CSDs (WFC): Mr. Aftab Ahmed Diwan, CEO-CDC (2017-2018), while serving as the Vice Chairman of ACG Executive Committee, represented the Asia Pacific region on the board of World Forum of CSDS (WFC) which is a group of five regional CSD associations that include Asia-Pacific, Africa and Middle East, the Americas, Eurasia and Europe.
Association of National Numbering Agencies (ANNA):CDC, along with the depositories around the world, serves as a member to the Association of National
Numbering Agencies (ANNA), a global representative of numbering agencies operating around the world where member companies regulate identification of local securities for trading locally and internationally.
Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with International Depositories:CDC has also signed a number of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with international depositories to gain benefits of cross-border cooperation, explore avenues of mutual assistance and enhance coordination. Investor protection measures
CDC has been continuously implementing, reviewing and ensuring various measures for investor protection, including the following:
IVR/SMS/WEB ACCESS/E-ALERTS
eStatements for Sub-Accounts and IAS account holders
Unique Identification Number (UIN)
Pre-defined reason codes for execution of transaction in CDS
Transfer of securities against market trades directly from the respective
account of investors
Restriction on overnight parking of securities in Main Account
⚫ Limit on Assets under Custody
Daily Compliance
⚫ Periodic investor awareness session programs
⚫ Online portal
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
CDC has developed a carefully charted plan to establish itself as the champion of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) development in Pakistan and fully acknowledges its role as a good corporate citizen and strives for the betterment of society through CSR Funds to pave the way for ESG development in Pakistan.
Some important initiatives undertaken by CDC in this regard include programs aimed at protecting rights of minorities, environmental related projects like reduction. of carbon footprint, tree plantation drives, etc., collaborations with NGOS for various CSR related activities and contributions, supporting youth and startups, etc.
On the occasion of CDC's Silver Jubilee Anniversary marking 25 Years of Excellence by the Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited, the Commemorative Postage Stamp of Rs. 20/- denomination is being issued by Pakistan Post on May 23rd, 2023.
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