Brokerage firms with trading rights

The Pakistan Stock Exchange publishes a list of firms holding a trading right entitlement certificate. The table above records each firm exactly as the source wrote it, with the date the source published the list and the status shown. A row is a record of what the exchange published, not a finding by this site.

Brokerage firms on the exchange's list

The firm's name and the status the list shows.

What a trading right entitlement certificate is

A trading right entitlement certificate lets a firm trade on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. The certificate is issued by the exchange, and a firm must hold one to act as a broker on the exchange. The certificate is not a licence to give investment advice, and it does not mean the firm is suitable for every client.

The certificate is the register to check when a platform claims to trade Pakistani shares for clients. If a platform says it trades shares on the exchange, it should be on this list or acting through a firm that is. A platform that is not on the list and does not name a firm on the list is not trading on the exchange.

What the table above records

The table above has columns for the name exactly as the source wrote it, the date the source published the list, the status shown, and a link to the original. Each row is a record of what the exchange published, not a finding of this site. The table is read once a week from the exchange's website.

The status shown is the one the exchange list gives. The statuses that appear are registered, suspended or unknown. Registered means the certificate is active; suspended means the certificate is not active; unknown means the list did not state a clear status. The status is a snapshot from the date of the read.

How a platform should relate to this list

A platform that claims to trade Pakistani shares for clients should be on this list or acting through a firm that is. If the platform is not on the list and does not name a firm on the list, then it is not trading on the exchange, whatever it says. The platform may be offering some other product, such as contracts for difference, which are not exchange-traded.

A reader should ask the platform to name the firm on the list that executes its trades. If the platform cannot name one, the reader should treat the claim with caution. The exchange list is the authoritative register for who may trade on the exchange.

What the status means

The status shown in the table is the status the exchange list gives. A registered status means the firm holds a trading right entitlement certificate that is active. A suspended status means the certificate is not active, perhaps because the firm has failed to meet some requirement. An unknown status means the list did not state a clear status.

The status can change between one weekly read and the next. A firm that is registered today may be suspended tomorrow, and a firm that is suspended may be restored. The reader should check the date on the table and the original list on the exchange's website.

What the list does not tell you

The list tells you who may trade on the exchange, but it does not tell you whether a firm is good at what it does. It does not rate or rank firms, and it does not say whether a firm is suitable for a particular client. The list also does not cover firms that offer other products, such as mutual funds or insurance.

The list is not a complete register of every financial firm in Pakistan. It covers only firms with trading rights on the Pakistan Stock Exchange. A firm that is not on the list may still be authorised to offer other financial services, but it cannot trade on the exchange.

How to check a platform against the list

When a platform claims to trade Pakistani shares, a reader can look for the platform's name in the table above. If the platform is not there, the reader should ask the platform to name the firm on the list that executes its trades. If the platform names a firm, the reader can check that firm's status in the table.

The reader should also check the original list on the exchange's website, using the link in the table. The exchange may update the list between weekly reads, so the reader should rely on the original for the most current status.

A wallet receipt cannot prove which company received the money

When a platform asks for a wallet transfer, the receipt shows the wallet number, the amount, the time and a transaction identity code. It does not show the registered name behind the wallet, the city where the account was opened, or the legal entity that controls it. A receipt is therefore evidence of a movement of funds, not evidence of who received them.

The same wallet number can accept deposits for different app names over different weeks. A number can be operated by an individual, a money changer, or a group that has rented the wallet. The receipt remains the same even when the pitch on the screen changes.

For a reader checking against the exchange's list, this means a wallet match is irrelevant. The list records firms with trading rights under their registered corporate names. A wallet cannot be checked against that register, because the register does not hold wallet numbers.

The exchange's list is not a rating and not a safety score

A firm appears on the list because it holds a trading right entitlement certificate, which is a licence to trade shares on the exchange. The list does not rank firms by size, by complaints, by capital or by conduct. A firm at the top of the table is not safer than a firm further down.

The exchange updates the list when a certificate is issued, suspended or surrendered. That update is a change of status, not a comment on how the firm treats clients. A firm can hold a certificate and still be subject to enforcement action by the commission.

Readers sometimes treat the list as a whitelist of approved investment apps. That is not its function. The list answers one question only: which legal persons currently hold a trading right. It does not answer whether any particular app is connected to any of those persons.

A platform can claim a link to a listed firm without the firm's knowledge

An app's screens can display a certificate number, a firm name or a logo taken from the exchange's website. The app itself may have no relationship with that firm. The person running the app can copy a registration number from a public document and paste it into a profile.

The only way to test the claim is to approach the listed firm directly through the contact details the exchange publishes. A message sent through the app's own support chat is not a test, because the same person who created the claim may be answering the chat.

The exchange does not issue a public list of apps that are authorised by each firm. Any list of that kind circulating on social media is a private compilation. The register on this page is the starting point, not the end of the enquiry.

A deposit into a wallet is not the same as a deposit into a brokerage account

A brokerage firm with trading rights collects client funds through bank accounts registered in the firm's name, under rules set by the exchange and the commission. A wallet transfer goes to a mobile money account, which is not a brokerage settlement account and is not supervised in the same way.

The receipt from a wallet transfer will show a wallet number and often a name that the sender typed in, not a name verified by the wallet provider. A client who believes they have funded a trading account has in fact funded a wallet, and the two are legally different.

When a platform asks for a wallet transfer and also claims to be connected to a listed firm, that combination is a reason to stop and check. Listed firms do not collect share trading deposits through personal wallets, because their own settlement rules do not allow it.

A suspended firm may still appear in app promotions

When the exchange suspends a firm's trading right, the firm's name does not disappear from every screen that ever displayed it. Old screenshots, cached pages and forwarded messages continue to circulate. A platform can keep using the name of a firm that no longer holds a current certificate.

The table on this page shows the current status as the exchange publishes it. If a firm's status changes, the table changes. A reader who checks only the promotional material may be looking at a status that is weeks or months out of date.

The practical step is to check the date of the promotion against the date of the table. If the promotion is old, the status may have changed. If the promotion is new but the firm is not current, the promotion is relying on a stale record.

A complaint about an app is addressed to the regulator, not to the exchange's list

The exchange's list is a register, not a complaint desk. It does not accept reports about apps, wallets or payment failures. A reader who has lost money through a wallet transfer to an app cannot file that complaint with the exchange and expect the exchange to act on the list.

The commission maintains a complaint channel for investor grievances, and the State Bank handles complaints about payment instruments and wallet providers. The right order is to gather the wallet receipt, the app screenshots and the correspondence, then file with the commission or the State Bank.

The exchange's list helps a reader establish whether a firm exists. It does not help recover funds. Recovery depends on the payment trail, the identity of the wallet holder and the enforcement powers of the authority that receives the complaint.

The list narrows the field, but does not clear it

A platform that does not appear on this list cannot offer brokerage services in Pakistan. That is the first and easiest test. If the platform says it trades shares for you but is not on the list, the claim is already broken. The list is the definitive record of who may trade, and the exchange updates it as certificates are issued, suspended, or revoked.

But the reverse does not hold. Finding a firm on the list does not mean every claim made by that firm or by a platform using its name is sound. A trading right is about permission to execute trades, not about deposit schemes, task packages, or referral bonuses. Those activities fall under different rules and different regulators. The list is one gate among several.

The practical order is to check the list first, then check the SECP's investor alerts for any warning about the platform or the firm, then ask the firm directly about the service being offered. If any step fails, stop. The list does not promise that a check makes a platform safe; it only removes the most obvious false claim.

What the exchange verifies before it grants a trading right

The exchange does not hand a trading right to every applicant. Before a firm appears on this list, it must satisfy the exchange's membership requirements. These cover the firm's legal form, its paid-up capital, its internal systems, and the fitness of its directors and senior officers. The exchange also checks whether the firm has the technical connectivity to route orders into its trading system. Each requirement exists to ensure that only a regulated brokerage can hold itself out as a securities trader.

A firm that clears the entry test then receives a trading right entitlement certificate. That certificate is not a badge of quality. It records that the firm met the exchange's conditions on a given date and may now place orders on the exchange. The exchange can suspend or cancel the certificate if the firm later breaches its rules, fails to pay dues, or is disciplined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The list on this page reflects the exchange's current record of who holds that status.

For a reader checking an investment app, this sequence matters because the certificate is the only document that allows a firm to say it 'trades on the Pakistan Stock Exchange'. A platform that claims to execute share trades but names no certificate holder, or names a firm that is not on this list, is describing a service the exchange has not authorised. The exchange's own verification is the first step; the list is the public trace of it.