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Author: Mrs. Anjum Shahnawaz

  • Pakistan remains in FATF’s grey list; new deadline February 2021

    Pakistan remains in FATF’s grey list; new deadline February 2021

    KARACHI: The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Friday decided to keep Pakistan in ‘grey list with the announcement that the country needs to do more.

    FATF President Dr Marcus Player, addressing a webinar to announce the decisions taken by the plenary in its three-day meeting period, said that the forum has decided that Pakistan “needs to do more” when it comes to fulfilling the requirements set out by the task force.

    It was acknowledged that of the 27 conditions that were put forth to Pakistan, 21 have been fulfilled.

    To a question, Dr Player said that once the remaining six conditions are fulfilled, an “on site visit” will be approved under which a team from the FATF will visit the country for the next review.

    “Our discussions are confidential, and the members decided by consensus that Pakistan needs to complete these six items for an onsite visit to be granted.

    “As soon as the plenary decides that Pakistan has completed all the 27 items, then an onsite visit will be made. After that, it will be decided whether the country will be allowed to exit the grey list or not.”

    He said that the new deadline for Pakistan to fulfil the remaining conditions is February 2021.

    Hammad Azhar, federal minister for Minister for Industries and Production in a twee said that Pakistan has achieved impressive progress on its FATF action plan. The country complied with 21 out of 27 action items now stand cleared. Remaining 6 rated as partially complete. Within a year, we progressed from 5/27 to 21/27 completed items. FATF acknowledged that any blacklisting is off the table now.

    “Instead of current Action Plan, discussions remained focused on how Pak can be facilitated for our upcoming 2nd evaluation (MER), due mid next year. I congratulate our Federal and Provincial Teams who have worked day and night even during the pandemic to ensure this turn around,” he added.

  • Stock market gains 67 points in range bound activity

    Stock market gains 67 points in range bound activity

    KARACHI: The stock market gained 67 points on Friday in a range bound trading activity.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 41,266 points as against 41,199 points showing an increase of 67 points.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market traded range bound today between -135 points and +184 points.

    The Index was swayed by mixed expectations on FATF (due to be announced today 7 PM PST) as well as the result announcements that saw E&P companies declining on the bourse, although international crude oil prices were stable.

    Financial results kept the interest alive from Investors, however, persistent selling in Banks and E&P kept the Index in check.

    UBL was scheduled to be announced by close of session, but was deferred to Monday as the meeting was still in progress.

    Among scrips, MLCF topped the volumes with 45.7 million shares, followed by PRL (27.9 million) and UNITY (24.2 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include Cement (+92 points), Insurance (+20 points), Fertilizer (+13 points), Banks (-31 points), E&P (-18 points) and Power (-11 points).

    Volumes declined further from 500 million shares to 354.4 million shares (-29 percent DoD). Average traded value also declined by 10 percent to reach US$ 96.8 million as against US$ 107.2 million.

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include MLCF, PRL, UNITY, FCCL and PIBTL, which formed 39 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include LUCK (+25 points), ENGRO (+19 points), CHCC (+19 points), MLCF (+13 points) and KOHC (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include BAHL (-18 points), HUBC (-18 points), EPCL (-10 points), OGDC (-9 points) and PPL (-7 points).

  • Rupee gains 45 paisas against dollar on foreign inflows

    Rupee gains 45 paisas against dollar on foreign inflows

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained 45 paisas against the dollar on Friday owing to substantial inflows of export receipts and workers’ remittances.

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  • Credit card fraud by bank official unearthed

    Credit card fraud by bank official unearthed

    ISLAMABAD: The Banking Mohtasib (Ombudsman) has provided a relief to a person, who lost money through credit card transactions that were made fraudulently by a bank official.

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  • SBP issues procedure for Sharia based investment in Naya Pakistan Certificates

    SBP issues procedure for Sharia based investment in Naya Pakistan Certificates

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday issued procedure for Islamic mode of investments in Naya Pakistan Certificates (NPCs). The SBP said that the government had established a wholly-owned special purpose vehicle, namely Islamic NPC Company Limited (INPCCL), which shall be managed under the mandate of its Board of Directors. INPCCL shall be issuing INPCs denominated in USD and PKR to the agent banks and investors.

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  • Stock brokers seek tax adjustment against capital losses

    Stock brokers seek tax adjustment against capital losses

    KARACHI: Brokers at Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) have approached the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to allow tax adjustment against brought forward capital losses.

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  • Mohtasib receives 14,587 complaints against banks

    Mohtasib receives 14,587 complaints against banks

    ISLAMABAD: The Banking Mohtasib (Ombudsman) Pakistan has received 14,587 complaints against banks for the year ended December 31, 2019.

    The annual report of Banking Mohtasib Pakistan revealed the number of complaints against each bank in the following table:

    S. No.BankTotal
    01Albaraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited56
    02Allied Bank Limited586
    03Askari Bank Limited227
    04Bank Al Habib Limited118
    05Bank Alfalah Limited764
    06Bank Islami Pakistan Limited110
    07Citibank3
    08Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited101
    09Faysal Bank Limited477
    10First Women Bank Limited12
    11Habib Bank Limited2511
    12Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited68
    13JS Bank Limited262
    14MCB Bank Limited880
    15Meezan Bank Limited319
    16National Bank of Pakistan825
    17Samba Bank Limited8
    18Silk Bank Limited586
    19Sindh Bank32
    20SME Bank Limited5
    21Soneri Bank Limited75
    22Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited267
    23Summit Bank Limited60
    24The Bank of Khyber20
    25The Bank of Punjab267
    26The Punjab Provincial Cooperative Bank Limited24
    27United Bank Limited1587
    28Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited94
    29Institutions other than banks313
    30Complaints received through Prime Minister’s Portal3930

    Relief claimed amounting to Rs 260,985,799/- has been granted to the complainants.

    In the year under review, a total number of 1422 formal complaints were resolved against which 160 Representations were made to the President, Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

    During the year ending December 31, 2019, one Review Petition was filed and the same was allowed.

    The highest number of complaints received from the province of Punjab i.e. 10,074 followed by Sindh 3,094, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa 1,055, Balochistan 131, Azad Kashmir 212, Gilgit Baltistan 21.

  • Customs official awarded ‘dismissal from service’ for misconduct

    Customs official awarded ‘dismissal from service’ for misconduct

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday awarded major penalty of ‘dismissal from service’ upon a customs official on the charges of misconduct.

    An office order issued by the FBR stated that disciplinary proceedings under Government Servants

    (Efficiency & Discipline) Rules, 1973 were initiated against Riaz-ul-Haq, Inspector (BS-16), Model Customs Collectorate (Enforcement & Compliance), Lahore on October 28, 2014 on account of his unauthorized absence from duty since April 02, 2014.

    Ms. Ammara Durrani, the then Deputy Collector (PCS/BS-18), MCC (Appraisement), Lahore was appointed as Inquiry Officer to conduct inquiry on various acts of gross “Misconduct” as prescribed in Rule 3(b) of the Government Service (E&D) Rules, 1973.

    The Inquiry Officer submitted her inquiry report April 15, 2015, according to which the charge leveled against the accused officer has been established.

    A show cause notice was issued on August 01, 2016 to the accused officer and he was also called for personal hearing by the Authorized Officer on September 10, 2020.

    After considering the charge framed in the charge sheet, inquiry report and other documentary evidences, the Authorized Officer is of the considered opinion that the accused officer has been found guilty of “Misconduct” under rules 3(b) of the Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973 and recommended to the Member (Admn)/ Authority to impose upon the accused officer the major penalty of “Dismissal from Service” under Rule 4(1)(b)(iv) of the Government Servants (Efficiency and Discipline) Rules, 1973.

    The Member (Admn) FBR being Authority in this case, after having considered all aspects of the case and the recommendations of the Authorized Officer has therefore, imposed the major penalty of “Dismissal from Service” upon Riaz-ul-Haq, Inspector 3 with immediate effect.

    The period of his unauthorized absence from duty from 02.04.2014 onwards is treated as Extra Ordinary Leave (EOL) without pay as admissible under the rules.

    He shall have the right of Appeal as admissible in the Civil Servants (Appeal) Rules, 1977.

  • Country’s foreign exchange reserves increase to $19.302 billion

    Country’s foreign exchange reserves increase to $19.302 billion

    KARACHI: The liquid foreign exchange reserves of the country increased by $287 million to $19.302 billion by week ended October 16, 2020, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Thursday.

    The foreign exchange reserves of the country were at $19.015 billion by week ended October 09, 2020.

    The official reserves of the central bank also increased by $269 million to $12.067 billion by week ended October 16, 2020 as compared with $11.798 billion a week ago.

    The SBP attributed the increase in official reserves to the government inflows.

    The foreign exchange reserves held by commercial banks witnessed nominal increase of $18 million to $7.235 billion by week ended by October 16, 2020 as compared with $7.217 billion a week ago.

  • Stock market falls by 337 points on profit booking

    Stock market falls by 337 points on profit booking

    KARACHI: The stock market witnessed a decline of 337 points on Thursday as investors opted for profit booking during the day.

    The benchmark KSE-100 index of Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) closed at 41,199 points as against 41,536 points showing a decline of 337 points.

    Volumes declined from 661.3 million shares to 500.1 million shares. Average traded value also declined by 21 percent to reach US$ 106.9 million as against US$ 135.1 million.

    Analysts at Arif Habib Limited said that the market opened on a positive note today +50 points, and following the momentum since the beginning of the week the index added a total of 282 points during the session.

    Profit booking brought the index down by 448 points and closed the session -337 points.

    Rather than any negative development on economic or political front, today’s profit booking was largely an outcome of risk taking at the beginning of this week that paid well yesterday and today.

    Tomorrow is the decision day for FATF, which will be announced post market in the evening and will have its impact next week Monday. Among scrips, UNITY continued topping the index with 61.3 million shares, followed by PIBTL (56.3 million) and MLCF (44.5 million).

    Sectors contributing to the performance include E&P (-110 points), Power (-85 points), O&GMCs (-38 points), Pharma (-22 points) and Technology (-19 points).

    Stocks that contributed significantly to the volumes include UNITY, PIBTL, MLCF, HASCOL and TRG, which formed 46 percent of total volumes.

    Stocks that contributed positively to the index include BAHL (+74 points), HMB (+17 points), MLCF (+15 points), MTL (+10 points) and FFC (+10 points). Stocks that contributed negatively include HUBC (-71 points), OGDC (-40 points), PPL (-33 points), POL (-20 points) and MEBL (-20 points).