This study is based on the problem that how regulations made by oil and gas regulatory authority influences the companies in oil and gas sector of Pakistan. We identify 13 regulatory changes in oil and sector of Pakistan which broadly includes the announcement related to the formulation, functions and responsibilities of oil and gas authority, deregulation and changes in the prices of oil and gas products, interference of apex court into the oil and gas sector and privatization of oil refineries in emerging market of Pakistan. Well-liked event study methodology is used to uncover the impact of regulation announcement on equity prices in Pakistan. Beside this, we also capture the effect of regulation announcement on the firm performance by introducing the dummy variable in ordinary least framework. In line with the financial and econometric theory criteria, we use the sales growth, leverage, liquidity and tangibility as control variables. Study reveal that regulatory announcements have statistically significant aggregate effect on the oil and gas sector of Pakistan stock exchange. We recommend to the policy makers, managers and regulators that the stock prices of oil and gas companies are more sensitive toward the regulatory announcements related to interference of Supreme Court and regulations concerning to the formulation, functions and responsibilities of oil and gas regulatory authority in Pakistan.

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The hidden non-linear association between governance indicators & stock market development (SMD) of Pakistan has been scrutinized in this study by using two comparative co-integrating techniques known as ARDL (Auto-regressive Distributed Lag) & NARDL (Non-linear ARDL). Empirical evidence suggests that misrepresented inferences arise by ignoring hidden non-linearity nexus between the variables. The ARDL results indicate that political stability & absence of violence/terrorism does not impact directly the SMD of Pakistan. Voice & accountability positively and significantly impact SMD, but rule of law does not impact SMD of Pakistan directly. The regulatory quality is highly significant and negatively impacts SMD. Contrarily, the NARDL frame indicates significant differences amid coefficients of components of governance index, denoting asymmetric links between variables. The Positive & Negative sums of partial decompositions of Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality, Political Stability & Absence of Violence/Terrorism (PS&AVT), and Voice & Accountability (V&A) significantly impact SMD. The impact of partial Negative multipliers of Regulatory Quality, and PS&AVT has a highly significant and negative impact, while V&A has a significant and positive impact on SMD. The impact of Positive partial multipliers of all variables is positive and significant except V&A. The comparative diagnostics extricate precariousness in policy moratorium. This study will add credence to the predictive power of governance indicators towards SMD of Pakistan by incorporating Positive and Negative decomposed multipliers.

Purpose This research aims to examine the impact of money laundering (ML) and corruption on the asset quality of conventional and Islamic banks. Design/methodology/approach The current study used the data of conventional and Islamic banks of Pakistan from 2012 to 2018. In this study, we used fully modified ordinary least squares, dynamic ordinary least squares and pooled ordinary least square methods to analyze the data. Findings The results found that corruption and ML positively affect the conventional banking non-performing loans (NPLs). In contrast, corruption and ML harm the Islamic bank’s loan portfolio quality. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the relationship between corruption, ML and NPLs in conventional and Islamic banks of Pakistan are examined for the first time. Practical Implications According to the study’s findings, bank authorities should establish an effective method for monitoring loan activities and developing new and innovative products in Islamic banks. Additionally, the Pakistani government needs to improve anti-corruption and anti-ML policies to earn investors’ trust.

Purpose: The available literature on various sectors to examine the impact of earnings on dividend payments, indicates that still, extensive research lacks in the financial sector of Pakistan. The rationale behind paying higher dividends has been observed in emerging countries like Pakistan to maintain a strong financial footing. This study aims to investigate various factors that can influence dividend payouts. Design/Methodology/Approach: ARDL approach has been used to establish a long-term impact of selected variables on dividend payouts. Data of 50 financial listed firms for 2000-2021 has been used to subsume the impact of earnings-related variables on the dividend payouts of the financial companies of Pakistan. Findings: Results indicate that market capitalization, ROA, EPS, and firm size have a significant and positive impact on dividend decisions, while leverage generates a significant inverse impact on dividend declarations. The study also indicates discretionary accruals (a factor in earnings management under IAS) do not impact dividends significantly. ROE has no impact on the volume of dividends due to the specific nature of the firms under study. Implications/Originality/Value: The study demonstrates a conjecture that the financial sector must maintain its dividends not only to retain its old stakeholders but also to recruit new ones.