Pkrevenue.com

Month: March 2021

  • Habib Bank pays Rs320.79 million as penalties

    Habib Bank pays Rs320.79 million as penalties

    KARACHI: Habib Bank Limited (HBL) has paid an amount of Rs320.79 million as penalty for various regulatory violations during the year ended December 31, 2020.

    According to financial results released by the bank for the year ended December 31, 2020, the bank paid the amount of Rs320.79 million as penalties for violation of various regulations.

    However, the payment of penal amount reduced by 33 percent when compared with Rs480.56 million paid in the preceding year.

    According to details the bank paid an amount of Rs296 million against fine imposed by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for the year ended December 31, 2020. The latest amount of monetary penalty has been reduced when compared with Rs476 million that was imposed by the SBP on the bank during the preceding year.

    The fall in penal amount shows the bank has strengthened inter controls related to know your customer (KYC) and transactions violating other regulatory provisions.

    The bank has also paid penal amount to the tune of Rs24.37 million as fine to other regulatory bodies during the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared with an amount of Rs3.9 million paid during the preceding year.

  • Standard Chartered Bank declares 18pc fall in annual profit

    Standard Chartered Bank declares 18pc fall in annual profit

    KARACHI: Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) has declared annual profit of Rs13.13 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020, which was reduced by 18 percent when compared with Rs16 billion in the preceding year.

    According to financial results shared with the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Friday, the fall in annual profit may be attributed to significant increase in provisioning and write offs during the year.

    The provisioning and write offs of the banks increased to Rs4.9 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020 when compared with Rs16.81 million in the preceding year.

    According to the financial results of the bank, an amount of Rs4.77 billion was cost under the head of provision against loans and advances for the year ended December 31, 2020.

    Net Interest Income of the bank slightly increased to Rs28.14 billion for the year under review as compared with Rs27.78 billion in the preceding fiscal year.

    Total income of the bank during the year also posted nominal growth to Rs40.93 billion when compared with Rs39 billion in the preceding year.

    Total expenses of the bank also increased slightly to Rs12.38 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020 when compared with Rs27.18 billion in the preceding year.

    The bank paid Rs10.48 billion as tax for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared with Rs11.18 billion in the preceding year.

    Earnings per share of the bank fell to Rs3.39 as compared with EPS of Rs4.14 in the last year.

  • Foreign exchange reserves increase to $20.133 billion

    Foreign exchange reserves increase to $20.133 billion

    KARACHI – The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reported a positive development in the country’s economic indicators as the liquid foreign exchange reserves increased by $91 million to reach $20.133 billion by the week ending February 26, 2021.

    (more…)
  • KSE-100 index plunges 882 points on Senate election results

    KSE-100 index plunges 882 points on Senate election results

    KARACHI: The stock market plunged by 882 points on Thursday owing to set back for the government in the Senate elections.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 45,279 points as against previous day’s closing of 46,161 points, showing a decline of 882 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the incumbent government’s defeat at Senate elections trumped KSE100 index, which dropped 1073 points on the opening bell.

    Recovery ensued in the expectation of Vote of Confidence by Prime Minister, which brought the index from -1073 points to ~-350 points during the session.

    Selling was observed across the board. By mid-day, prospects of redemption at Mutual Funds’ end brought the Index under pressure again, continuing till end of session that saw market taking a double dip to end -882 points. Among scrips, KEL led the table with 33.1 million shares, followed by GGL (28.6 million) and TRG (25.8 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (-167 points), Banks (-142 points), E&P (-71 points), Fertilizer (-71 points) and Power (-60 points).

    Volumes increased from 403.6 million shares to 441.3 million shares (+9 percent DoD). Average traded value on the contrary declined by 10 percent to reach US$ 135 million as against US$ 149.5 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include KEL, GGL, TRG, BYCO and WTL, which formed 29 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include COLG (+22 points), GATI (+2 points), NESTLE (+1 points), INDU (+0 points) and FHAM (+0 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include LUCK (-67 points), TRG (-53 points), HBL (-35 points), HUBC (-34 points) and UBL (-31 points).

  • Rupee weakens by three paisas on import payment demand

    Rupee weakens by three paisas on import payment demand

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by three paisas against the dollar on Thursday owing to demand for import and corporate payments.

    The rupee ended Rs157.16 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs157.13 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    The rupee fell on Thursday after maintaining eight-day streak of appreciation against the foreign currency.

    The exchange rate was at Rs159.10 on February 19, 2021. However, the local currency recovered Rs1.97 against the greenback in the interbank foreign exchange market till March 03, 2021.

    The currency experts said that the growth in export receipts and inflows of workers remittance helped the rupee to make gains.

  • Customs clearance of iron, steel scrap linked with LMB value

    Customs clearance of iron, steel scrap linked with LMB value

    KARACHI: Pakistan Customs has linked the import value of iron and steel scrap with the prices published in London Metal Bulletin (LMB) in order to ensure smooth customs clearance, sources said on Thursday.

    The sources said that the Directorate of Customs Valuation last week issued valuation ruling for iron and steel scrap after considering fluctuation in prices in the international markets and on a solution recommended by stakeholders regarding adoption of LMB prices.

    The sources said that the directorate previously amended the values of iron and steel scrap through a valuation ruling issued on July 02, 2020.

    However, the directorate had received recommendations from stakeholders that the values fixed for the imported goods were causing problems to importers at the clearance stage because the international market varied with demand and supply factor.

    The stakeholders also recommended that prices of scrap were also published in LMB for Pakistan imports. Therefore, to ensure transparency, fairness as well as uniformity in assessment, the value should be linked with LMB prices and freight factor should be added when published prices given as FOB (freight on board).

    During the meetings to review the valuation of iron and steel scrap, the stakeholders provided copies of the LMB prices and contracts values imported to Pakistan.

    Considering the facts, the directorate allowed the customs clearance of iron and steel scrap at the import value published by the LMB.

    However, for compressor scrap the directorate fixed $660 per metric ton as customs value for determination of duty and taxes at the time of clearance.

    The importers of compressor scraps informed the directorates that 90 percent of the scrap was imported from the USA where chances of under-invoicing were minimal. They demanded that either the scrap should be excluded from ruling or its value should be reduced from current value as per the invoices of recent import values provided by them.

  • Habib Bank tops in customers complaints list

    Habib Bank tops in customers complaints list

    KARACHI: Habib Bank Limited (HBL) has topped in failing to satisfy customers with the services as the highest number of complaints were filed against the bank at the Wafaqi Mohtasib (Ombudsman) Pakistan.

    The annual report for the year 2020 issued by the office of Wafaqi Mohtasib last week revealed that the highest number of complaints against any bank was received against HBL, which is 23.37 percent of the total complaints received during the year.

    The office of the Wafaqi Mohtasib received 22,750 complaints during the year. The banking customers lodged around 5,317 complaints against HBL during the year.

    The banking customers have expressed more dissatisfaction during the current year as the percentage of complaints lodged against the bank out of the total complaints increased.

    The Banking Mohtasib Pakistan received a sum of 14,587 complaints against all banks during 2019. While in the same year the complaints lodged against the HBL were 2,511 which was 17.21 percent of the total complaints.

    Following table shows number of complaints received against each bank during the year under review. The complaints included received at Banking Mohtasib Secretariat and Prime Minister Portal:

    S.No.Bank NameNo. of complaints
    01Habib Bank Limited5,317
    02United Bank Limited3,098
    03MCB Bank Limited1,870
    04Allied Bank Limited1,539
    05Bank Alfalah Limited1,267
    06National Bank of Pakistan821
    07Faysal Bank Limited802
    08The Bank of Punjab759
    09Meezan Bank Limited759
    10JS Bank Limited665
    11Silk Bank Limited647
    12Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited548
    13Askari Bank Limited413
    14Bank Al Habib Limited388
    15Bank Islami Pakistan Limited190
    16Soneri Bank Limited164
    17Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited162
    18Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited120
    19Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited105
    20The Bank of Khyber85
    21Summit Bank Limited65
    22Albaraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited59
    23Sindh Bank48
    24The Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited37
    25Samba Bank Limited21
    26First Women Bank Limited8
    27SME Bank Limited3
    28The Bank of Tokyo – Mitsubishi UFG Ltd1
    29Institutions other than banks2,789
     Total22,750
  • Engro Fertilizers wins DuPont Award

    Engro Fertilizers wins DuPont Award

    KARACHI: Engro Fertilizers has been declared as one of only three global award winners at the virtual ceremony of 14th DuPont Safety and Sustainability Awards, a press release said on Wednesday.

    As a recipient of the Global Safety Innovation Award, Engro Fertilizers has been recognized for making innovative and systemic changes to its operations to achieve higher health, safety, and environment (HSE) standards.

    The Company undertook a root and branch overhaul of its safety systems, invested in digitization initiatives, and doubled down efforts on development of new capabilities.

    In line with Engro’s philosophy of being world class in HSE, the all-encompassing Safety Beyond Excellence strategy led to an 87 percent reduction in the Total Recordable Incident Rate, resulted in a sharp reduction in operational upsets / fire incidents, significantly improved risk management and led to an increase in employee and stakeholder engagement.

    The other two DuPont global award winners are Dubai Municipality, UAE and SMRT Trains Ltd, Singapore. Engro Fertilizers edged out Saudi Arabia-based Saudi Aramco, named the winner in the EMEA region, and Brazil-based Usina Coruripe, which took home the Americas award.

    Sharing the Company’s journey of safety excellence and achievements in a panel discussion, Nadir Qureshi – CEO of Engro Fertilizers, said that, “A relentless commitment to safety is one of the core values of Engro. We have always strived to set world class HSE standards for both our employees and the communities in which we live and operate.

    “This focus is continuously reinforced by our leaderships’ commitment, with my Chairman and Board regularly highlighting this core commitment and our teams embodying this culture.

    “We are humbled by this global accolade and it is our endeavor to get to similar levels of world-class safety in the new logistics business that was launched 18 months ago with the aspiration of becoming the country’s leading long haul service provider.”

    Syed Shahzad Nabi – Senior Vice President Manufacturing, added that, “To develop the team, we put a lot of focus on enhancing the skill level both in terms of the core job, safety system and creativity. Our Transitional Training Model, followed by hands on training, enables all employees to undergo technical training and be aware of associated safety hazards.”

    In 2020, Engro Fertilizers was recognized locally and globally with several awards for displaying commitment and focus towards ensuring employee well-being and maintaining HSE standards.

    These awards include the Country Best Award by the British Safety Council, Health & Safety Silver Award by Royal Society for Prevention of Accidents, eight Green Office Awards by the World Wildlife Foundation, the Annual Fire Safety Excellence Award by the NFEH and the overall Platinum Award in Occupational Safety and Health at the Best Practices in OSH Awards.

  • FBR notifies Chairman of Benami Adjudicating Authority

    FBR notifies Chairman of Benami Adjudicating Authority

    ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed Dr. Muhammad Ali Khan as chairman of Benami Adjudicating Authority under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2017.

    The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Wednesday issued the notification for the posting. Dr. Muhammad Ali Khan, is a BS-22 officer of Inland Revenue Service (IRS) and was posted as Member (Admin Pool), FBR HQ Islamabad.

    The FBR also notified the posting of Dr. Bashirullah Khan, a BS-21 officer of IRS as Member, Benami Adjudicating Authority, under the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 2017.

    Dr. Bashirullah khan has been transferred from the post of Directorate General of Intelligence and Investigation (IR), Islamabad.

  • PTA issues regulations for Mobile Device Manufacturing

    PTA issues regulations for Mobile Device Manufacturing

    ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Wednesday said it has issued Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) regulations and has started receiving applications for mobile device manufacturing.

    In a statement the PTA said that the implementation of PTA’s Device Identification, Registration and Blocking System (DRIBS) in 2019 had resulted in significant increase in legal import of mobile device and establishment of over 33 local assembly plants of mobile devices in Pakistan.

    These plants have produced over 25 million mobile devices including 4G smart phones since implementation of the system.

    The PTA said that with the successful execution of DRIBS, the local assembly industry had evolved from infancy to well growing stage, with significant growth seen in local assembly of smart phones.

    In 2019, only 119,639 smart phones were assembled locally whereas in 2020, the number of such devices grew to 2.1 million. It is important to highlight that the end of the second month of 2021, around 1.21 million smart phones have so far been assembled in Pakistan.

    In the light of the tremendous impact of DRIBS, the government has introduced a comprehensive Mobile Manufacturing Policy to encourage and attract manufacturers to Pakistan and establish their plants.

    PTA has issued MDM Regulations and has started receiving mobile device manufacturing applications. This initiative will help create more jobs in this technical sector, as well as enable consumer to buy locally manufactured mobile devices, the PTA added.

    The PTA said that the country had the distinction of implementing the world’s first open-source, full-fledged DRIBS. This system has the ability to identify all IMEIs latched on Pakistan’s mobile networks and to categorize them based on their compliant status.