Get an investment license in Pakistan.

An NBFC licence from the SECP for the relevant form of business - asset management services for mutual funds, investment advisory services for discretionary and non-discretionary portfolios, or private equity and venture capital fund management - one application per form under rule 5 of the NBFC Rules 2003, held by a public limited company. Brokerage is a separate licence.

Net worth by category under regulation 6(1A): PKR 15 million for trading only, PKR 75 million for trading and self-clearing (net capital balance PKR 10 million), PKR 500 million for trading and clearing (PKR 15 million). The 2022 Guide Book prints a revised table starting at PKR 7.5 million whose category mapping we confirm with the SECP before filing.

Rule 5 of the NBFC Rules 2003 makes minimum equity a licence condition prescribed by the Commission by notification, and Schedule I of the 2008 Regulations carries the figures per form of business, alongside the SECP's notifications. We confirm the rupee figure for your form with the Commission before the company is formed.

There is no statutory decision period - the 2016 Regulations (regulation 8), the NBFC Rules 2003 and the Futures Market Act 2016 (section 52) print none, and the SECP publishes no processing statistics. What is fixed: prior permission for six months extendable by three, incorporation inside six months, and a licence that runs to 31 December.

The broker regulations carry no foreign-ownership cap and the SECP Guide Book states there are no specific provisions restricting foreign ownership; for an NBFC, foreign sponsors are admitted subject to fit and proper, with no explicit limit found in the rules. Sponsors of any nationality hold above 51% and pass the SECP's tests.

Regulation 5A(1) draws the line at settlement and custody: a trading only broker executes its own and its customers' trades but cannot settle them or keep securities or money; trading and self-clearing adds settlement and custody of its own trades; trading and clearing also settles for other brokers and their customers.

Dividends withhold at 15% for a filer on the active taxpayer list and 30% otherwise under section 150, per the FBR card for tax year 2027. The company rate and the section 4C super tax sit in the Income Tax Ordinance 2001 - we confirm both from the Ordinance in the quote.

Section 47 of the Futures Market Act 2016 bars any regulated futures activity without an SECP licence - futures broker, adviser and fund manager licences run under the 2018 Regulations, with a new agri-only category. Securities adviser and securities manager licences sit under the Securities Act 2015 and the 2017 Regulations; 43 advisers were listed at 31 August 2026.

Different prizes: Pakistan is the onshore pool - 241.49 million people and a Rs 6,844.35 billion NBFC sector, reachable only through an SECP licence - with no published clock. ADGM licenses asset management at US$250,000 and advising at US$50,000 under 9% tax with a 0% qualifying rate, and reaches no Pakistani retail. Pakistani clients: license in Karachi. Gulf money: start in ADGM.

We choose the form of business against your real client book, sequence the SECP's prior permission, the public limited company and the PSX trading right inside the six-month window, and file with sponsor net worth, directors' records and segregation arrangements complete - run from our Karachi office with Dubai behind it for the Gulf leg.