By Omer Bilal ISLAMABAD, Feb 01 (INP-WealthPK): In the capital market, trading of numerous financial products and instruments such as bonds and stocks takes place. Corporations participate in the capital market to raise funds to finance their investment in real assets. The Insurance Association of Pakistan and Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDC) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the digital aggregation of insurance products through the CDC’s Emlaak Financials platform. This initiative will pave the way for the growth of the insurance industry and increase the outreach both for corporate and individual customers in the capital market for various financial products. The CDC is recognised as the infrastructure backbone of Pakistan’s capital market and it is the sole securities depository in the country. The CDC through its subsidiary ITMinds Limited, has launched the pilot version of a digital platform for the support of the mutual fund industry. Pakistan’s mutual fund segment stands at a meagre 1.6 percent of the GDP, which is very low compared to the market’s potential. This platform, named Emlaak Financials, will function as a digital distribution channel initially for mutual funds. By using this, investors will have liberty to have analysis comparison on a wide range of investment products. Initially, it is providing a low-cost and centralised solution to investors, through covering low-risk investors, but will soon be expanded to a full-fledged distribution mechanism for all types of investors. It is a step-wise process primarily to create account on Emlaak Financials and then pick mutual fund followed by online investment in the diverse range of products through multiple online gateways. Only Sahulat Sarmayakari accounts or at micro level for small investment with investment limits up to Rs400,000 are currently facilitated through Emlaak Financials. By creating an account through Emlaak Financials, an investor will be onboard for information regarding mutual funds, investment tools like comparative analysis of different funds, return calculator, hassle-free online investment, redemption and conversion transactions, swift switching between funds and fund managers, consolidated dashboard of investments, online account statement generation and certificates for availing tax rebates. The National Investment Trust Limited was Pakistan’s first asset management company, which launched its presence on country’s first consolidated digital platform for mutual fund investments across the asset management industry. Badiuddin Akber, CEO of CDC, said, “After the successful integration of Roshan Digital Accounts with the capital market, the CDC is now launching this new FinTech solution Emlaak Financials which is indeed a landmark initiative of national significance. It aims to pave the way for the growth of mutual fund industry and for promoting financial inclusion in Pakistan from the bottom level.” He added that the distribution of insurance products through the digital portal Emlaak is expected to provide low-cost and centralised solutions to the policyholders by providing comparative cost benefit analyses of different products on a centralised platform.