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Category: Money & Banking

Money and banking drive economic activity by facilitating transactions, savings, and investments. Banks manage financial resources, offer credit, and regulate money supply, ensuring stability and growth in Pakistan’s financial sector.

  • Banks barred from self issuing cheque books

    Banks barred from self issuing cheque books

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has barred financial institutions from issuing cheque book by default, according to a statement issued on Wednesday.

    The decision has been taken to promote digitalization in the banking sector. “Cheque-books that are currently being issued by default shall only be issued upon customer’s request,” the SBP said.

    In light of SBP’s vision to promote digitization in the banking sector and encourage use of digital channels, the following decisions have been taken for banks and microfinance banks.

    The financial institutions currently offering or planning to offer digital financial services shall create a role of Chief Digital Officer (CDO) or a similar role with a different designation.

    The CDO should preferably be a Key Executive responsible for steering the digitization efforts of the organization. The role would be in addition to existing Key Executives as required by relevant regulations.

    The financial institutions may consider recommended Terms of Reference (ToRs) for the above position. In addition, accelerated digitization should also be part of every CEO’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and the board of the financial institutions should monitor the achievements at least on half-yearly basis.

    The SBP issued instructions Regarding Internet Banking (IB)/Mobile Banking (MB):

    All FIs providing IB/MB services shall:

    — Offer the minimum set of services as identified in Annexure-B through their IB/MB channels.

    — Provide their interface in English, Urdu and where possible, regional languages.

    — Rationalize the use of One Time Password (OTP) on their platforms to improve user experience. However, they are also encouraged to use other convenient and secure authentication factors to satisfy the 2-Factor Authentication (2FA) requirements.

    — Ensure that there are no activation, subscription or annual charges for customers using IB/MB services.

    — Arrange to provide full-fledged digital portal for their corporate customers (corporate portal) and align controls, transaction limits etc. to cater for their online business needs.

    In order to move towards self-service banking channels and allow round the clock banking solutions to customers and businesses, banks are encouraged to consider the deployment of Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs) at selected locations especially at branches with large number of customers.

    Participants and member FIs of a PSO shall ensure that all other participants, member FIs and billers of that PSO are enabled on their IB/MB/ATM channels.

    Further, they shall also ensure that new participants/member FIs and billers are added on their respective channels within 30 days of the date of intimation from the PSO.

    To promote the use of payment cards, it has been decided that FIs shall ensure that all new-to-bank account holders and those customers who have not opted for a debit card previously, shall be issued a debit card. However, customers shall also be given the option to opt out of receiving any card.

    Further, photo account holders, visually impaired and illiterate persons shall be exempted from mandatory card issuance. In this regard, FIs shall ensure full compliance with PSD’s Circular No. 1 of 2020 dated January 31, 2020, in letter and spirit and shall not unnecessarily coerce and/or convince their customers to opt for cards that are not issued by SBP-approved domestic payment scheme.

    Detailed record of customer consent shall be maintained and made available for SBP’s inspection, as and when required.

    As per the existing practice, FIs have been using signatures and paper based instruments for authenticating customers in branches. To leverage on the existing EMV enabled card based infrastructure, FIs are now allowed to authenticate their customers at branch counters using chip-and-pin cards and 2FA prior to offering them banking services.

    However, this change should be implemented without causing inconvenience to the customers.

  • Rupee eases by nine paisas on high oil prices

    Rupee eases by nine paisas on high oil prices

    KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee experienced a minor depreciation against the US dollar on Wednesday, declining by nine paisas in the interbank market. The rupee closed at Rs157.13 against the dollar, compared to the previous day’s closing rate of Rs157.04.

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  • Rupee makes four paisas gain against dollar

    Rupee makes four paisas gain against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained four paisas against the dollar on Tuesday owing to sufficient supply of the foreign currency to meet payment demand.

    The rupee ended Rs157.04 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs157.08 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency dealers said that the market witnessed supply of the dollar during the day which was sufficient to meet payment for import and corporate demand.

    They said that the market was remained optimistic and hopes of inflows in shape of workers’ remittances and export receipts the rupee likely to make more gain in coming days.

  • National Bank pays Rs310.29 million as penalties for regulatory violations

    National Bank pays Rs310.29 million as penalties for regulatory violations

    KARACHI: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has paid an amount of Rs310.29 million as penalty to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for violating regulatory provisions.

    According to the financial results of the bank for the year ended December 31, 2020, the SBP imposed Rs310.59 million as penalties during the year, which was paid by the NBP.

    The SBP imposed penalty on the bank for procedural violations in the areas of Customer Due Diligence (CDD)/Know Your Customer (KYC), Asset Quality, Foreign Exchange Operations.

    The imposition of penalties by the SBP on the National Bank increased by 120 percent in the year 2020 as the penal amount on the NBP was Rs141 million in the preceding year.

    The SBP from July 2019 started public disclosure of penal action against banks. “Enforcement actions are an integral part of regulatory regime which involves imposition of monetary penalties and other actions against institutions and individuals for violations of laws, rules, regulations, guidelines or directives issued by SBP from time to time,” according to a circular issued by the central bank.

    In order to bring more transparency and strengthen market discipline, SBP has decided to publicly disclose significant enforcement actions.

    The total amount of penalties paid by the NBP was Rs316.44 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared with Rs150.58 million in the preceding year.

    An amount of Rs4.72 million was also imposed by central bank of international branches on the National Bank of Pakistan.

  • Rupee gains four paisas as positive sentiments

    Rupee gains four paisas as positive sentiments

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained four paisas against the dollar on Monday owing to positive sentiments prevailed in the foreign exchange market.

    The rupee ended Rs157.08 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs157.12 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency dealers said that foreign inflows of workers’ remittances and export receipts helped the rupee to make gain despite demand for import and corporate payments.

    The dealers said that the optimism prevailed on economic growth after confidence vote win by the prime minister in the parliament.

  • Careless bank record keeping creates difficulties for foreign currency account holder

    Careless bank record keeping creates difficulties for foreign currency account holder

    KARACHI – A Foreign Currency Account (FCA) holder faced immense inconvenience when his bank was unable to trace his long-maintained account. According to the 2020 Annual Report issued by the Office of Banking Mohtasib Pakistan, the complainant claimed that he had opened an FCA with a local bank branch in 1996 before leaving for Saudi Arabia.

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  • MCB Bank pays penalties amounting Rs191.76 million

    MCB Bank pays penalties amounting Rs191.76 million

    KARACHI: MCB Bank has paid an amount of Rs191.76 million as penalties 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 Rs191.76 million to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as penalties for violation of various regulations.

    The payment of penalty increased registered a phenomenal growth in the year ended December 31, 2020 when compared with Rs46.07 million paid in the preceding year.

    The rise in penal amount showed the violation of regulatory provisions had increased during the year. The SBP imposes the penalty on banks for mainly violating Know Your Customer (KYC) and provisions related to anti money laundering laws.

  • Rupee gains four paisas against dollar

    Rupee gains four paisas against dollar

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee made a gain of four paisas against the dollar on Friday despite demand for import and corporate payments on last trading of the week.

    The rupee ended at Rs157.12 to the dollar from previous day’s closing of Rs157.16 in the interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency experts said that demand for the foreign currency was remained high due to upcoming two weekly holidays. However, inflows of workers’ remittances and export receipts helped the rupee to make gain.

    The export receipts have increased by 4.3 percent to $16.3 billion during first eight months (July – February) 2020/2021 as compared with $15.6 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year, according to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

  • 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.