By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Patents and Companies Registration Agency (PACRA) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at promoting mutual assistance and exchange of information between the two regulatory authorities.
The MoU would enable the two regulatory authorities perform their respective functions effectively according to the laws, regulations and rules of their respective Jurisdictions that operate in or seek to
operate in the capital markets.
SEC secretary and chief executive Philip Chitalu signed on behalf of the Commission while PACRA chief executive officer Anthony Bweembya signed for the Agency.
Mr Chitalu said Companies registered with PACRA need to comply with certain requirement for them to come to the capital markets.
Among the requirements are that companies need to be public, they need to have a minimum number of shareholding and share capital among others.
This MoU would further be used to share and exchange information that would enhance capacity building and that was necessary to facilitate licensing, supervision, regulation or monitoring of entities under the Regulatory Authorities mandates.
Mr Bweembya said the MoU was timely because PACRA was a depository of information, which would be critical and useful not only for SEC but also the country at large.
This was the critalisation of the relation which was informal but that the two would be cooperating formally.