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.

Rupee maintains level against dollar

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee remained unchanged against dollar on Thursday amid lackluster trading activities.

The rupee ended Rs141.40 to the dollar, the same previous day’s closing level, in interbank foreign exchange market.

The interbank foreign exchange market was initiated in the range of Rs141.39 and Rs141.40.

The market recorded day high of Rs141.40 and low of Rs141.40 and closed at Rs141.40.

The exchange rate in open market however ended with appreciation of the local unit.

The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs141.50/Rs142.00 as compared with previous day’s closing of Rs141.70/Rs142.20 in cash ready market.

April 18, 2019
Zubyr Soomro appointed as NBP board chairman

KARACHI: Zubyr Soomro has been appointed as chairman of Board of Directors of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), said a notice to Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday.

A day earlier the finance division notified appointment of chairman and directors on the board of NBP with immediate effect.

According to the notice the following members have been appointed on the NBP board:

01. Zubyr Soomro, chairman on vacant slot

02. Mohammad Sohail Rajput AFS (IF/Inv), Finance Division, Director representing the government. He has replaced A Akbar Sharifzada, Ex-AFS, Finance Division

03. Tawfiq Asghar Hussain, Director, who replaced Muhammad Imran Malik

04. Ms. Sadaffe Abid, Director, who replaced Asad Munir

05. Zafar Masud has been appointed as director on the vacant slot

06. Imam Bakhsh Baloch has been appointed as director on the vacant slot

April 18, 2019
Stakeholders to be taken onboard on TSA: SBP

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday said that stakeholders would be taken onboard while taking decision on Treasury Single Account (TSA).

In a statement, the central bank said that some news are circulating on social media regarding government plans to introduce TSA.

While the proposal to introduce TSA is being examined by the government in consultation with the SBP as part of its agenda to reform public financial management, however, no decision has yet been made to implement the TSA, the central bank said.

“Any decision in this regard will be taken after due consultation with all the stakeholders and assessing its impact on the banking industry,” it added.

It will, therefore, be premature to form any opinion about the proposed policy decision and thus the market players should avoid engaging in any speculative activities based on this proposal which is still under examination.

April 17, 2019
Banking deposits reach all time high at Rs13.45 trillion

KARACHI: The banking deposits have reached to all time high at Rs13.45 trillion by end of March 2019 amid reports of government initiatives of Treasury Single Account (STA).

The deposits of the banking system increased to Rs13.456 trillion by March 2019 as compared with Rs12.57 trillion in the same month a year ago, showing growth of seven percent, according to statistics released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday.

Previously, the deposits hit record high at Rs13.35 trillion by the end of December 2018.

Analysts said that the initiatives of TSA would have negative repercussions on the banking deposits.

The has drafted a proposal to introduce TSA to transfer its deposits that are currently being maintained with commercial banks, to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

In this regard, SBP a day earlier held a meeting with bank representatives to brief them about the proposed mechanism of TSA.

The SBP has asked banks to provide feedback by the end of this month on the viability to consolidate government accounts into a single account as well as the readiness of their system to perform the implementation, as per channel checks.

Analysts at Topline Securities said that it would be a negative development for banks in terms of systematic risk as total government deposits with commercial banks are around Rs1.9 trillion or 13.7 percent of total deposits, around which, Rs0.9 trillion are of the federal government.

Bank of Khyber (BOP) has the highest government deposits (Federal & Provincial) of 63 percent of its total deposits, followed by Bank of Punjab (BOP) 56 percent, Askari Bank (AKBL) 33 percent and National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) 29 percent.

The analyst said that in the first phase, federal government deposits (around Rs0.9 trillion) will be transferred to SBP under single account, which may be followed by transfer of provincial deposits (around Rs1 trillion).

April 17, 2019
Rupee ends firmer on lower dollar demand for imports

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended firmer against dollar on Wednesday amid static demand for import and corporate payments.

The rupee ended Rs141.40 to the dollar, the same previous day’s level, in interbank foreign exchange market.

The interbank foreign exchange market was initiated in the range of Rs141.39 and Rs141.40.

The market recorded day high of Rs141.40 and low of Rs141.39 and closed at Rs141.40.

The currency experts said that the falling imports and narrowing trade deficit up to month of March 2019 had helped the rupee to maintain levels.

In the open market the rupee further strengthened owing to inflows.

The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs141.50/Rs142.00 from previous day’s closing of Rs141.70/Rs142.20 in cash ready market.

April 17, 2019
Meezan Bank, Regal Auto sign MoU for Sharia financing solutions

KARACHI: Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s leading Sharia compliant bank, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Regal Automobile Industries Limited to provide exclusive Shariah-compliant financing solutions and value-added services to its customers.

Arshad Majeed – Group Head Consumer Finance, Meezan Bank signed the MoU with Sohail Usman, Chairman, Regal Automobile Industries Limited – in Karachi, along their respective senior team members.

Arshad Majeed, while speaking at the occasion, expressed his appreciation to Regal Automobile Industries for creating an opportunity to enhance customer experience by offering priority processing, fast track vehicle delivery as well as after-sales benefits.

He further added: “As a leader in Islamic Car Finance in the country, Meezan Bank aims to enhance its product offering by actively working with new automobile manufacturers such as Regal Automobile Industries Limited to offer additional value-added services to its customers.

“We are hopeful that this recent alliance will prove to be mutually beneficial for both the organizations and help in reaching to a larger market.”

Regal Automobile has recently entered into the Pakistani auto market, with a license to locally produce the DFSK (Dongfeng) vehicles originating from China, under the ‘Prince’ brand name. DFSK (Dongfeng) comes under the umbrella of Dongfeng Motor Corporation, the state-owned auto giant.

As per the MoU, Meezan Bank will facilitate the provision of Shariah-compliant car financing solution while Regal Automobile’s brand ‘Prince’ will ensure priority delivery of Vehicles including Glory 580, K07 and C37 with after-sales support services to Meezan Bank’s customers across Pakistan.

April 16, 2019
Rupee ends unchanged against dollar

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended unchanged against dollar in interbank foreign exchange market on Tuesday amid lackluster trading.

The rupee ended Rs141.40 to the dollar, the same previous day’s closing level, in interbank foreign exchange market.

The interbank foreign exchange market was initiated in the range of Rs 141.39 and Rs141.40.

The market recorded day high of Rs141.40 and low of Rs141.40 and closed at Rs141.40.

In open market the exchange rate, however, the rupee gained 10 paisas against the greenback.

The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs141.70/Rs142.20 from previous day’s closing of Rs141.80/Rs142.30 in cash ready market.

April 16, 2019
Non-acceptance of duty, taxes: SBP launches surprise inspection of bank branches

KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has launched surprise inspection of bank branches across the country on complaints received from taxpayers that banks were not accepting duty, taxes through over the counter (OTC).

In a circular issued on Monday, the SBP said that banks are required to enable their OTC Channel for collection of taxes and duties and advise their branches to comply meticulously with the above instructions.

“However, despite above clear instructions, the complaints regarding non-acceptance of taxes particularly the mobile levy through banks’ OTC Channel are piling up unabatedly.”

Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and general public reported numerous instances whereby commercial banks are not accepting over the counter payments of Customs Duty and other taxes including mobile levy against PSIDs generated by the WeBoc system.

“The increasing large number of complaints shows that the branches are still not fully aware of the instructions to collect the taxes and duties through 1Link’s integrated/ enabled OTC facility.”

The central bank said that the matter was viewed seriously and therefore, it has been decided that SBP would conduct surprise inspection of bank branches across the country, to assess the level of dissemination of information, awareness at branches and compliance of instructions issued by SBP from time to time. “Any violation of above instructions by the branches if detected during surprise inspections i.e. the branches are found not accepting the taxes and duties from the clients approaching them with PSIDs for payment of the taxes and duties would attract strict punitive action including levy of monetary penalty,” the SBP said.

The SBP directed that keeping in view the above, the branches / Regional Offices must be advised again to ensure meticulous compliance of the instructions and facilitate the taxpayers in payment of taxes and duties.

April 15, 2019
Rupee eases against dollar on higher corporate demand

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended down by one paisa against dollar on Monday on higher demand from corporate sector.

The rupee ended Rs141.40 to the dollar from last Friday’s closing of Rs141.39 in interbank foreign exchange market.

The interbank foreign exchange market was initiated in the range of Rs141.39 and Rs141.40.

The market recorded day high of Rs141.40 and low of Rs141.35 and closed at Rs141.40.

Currency dealers said that the local unit gained earlier in the day. However, on demand corporate side the value rebounded.

In open market the rupee gained 20 paisas against dollar.

The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs141.80/Rs142.30 from last Saturday’s closing of Rs142.00/Rs142.50 in cash ready market.

April 15, 2019
Rupee gains four paisas against dollar in early trade

KARACHI: The Pak Rupee gained 4 paisas against dollar in early trade on Monday owing to narrowing trade deficit during first nine months in the current fiscal year.

The dollar is being traded at Rs141.35 to the dollar in interbank foreign exchange market. The foreign current market was ended at Rs141.39 to the dollar on last Friday.

The trade deficit was narrowed by 8 percent during July – March 2018/2019 to $23.67 billion as compared with the deficit of $27.21 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.

The trade deficit significantly shrank by 21 percent in March 2019 to $2.17 billion as compared with $3.02 billion in the same month of the last year.

April 15, 2019