Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur
Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur
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Report
On
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This report has been prepared and submitted as a requirement for Business
Communication Course.
During the preparation of this report, I had to face several obstacles which
were nevertheless removed through efforts to excel.
I take this opportunity to thank our Respectable Madam Irum Rani for
her ever-present guidance, support and ideas throughout the semester I
dedicate this report to her.
There are a number of people who have assisted and I appreciate their
efforts in helping me, especially our family and friends who were
extremely helpful supportive and patient through the entire process the
required data and completing this report.
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Summary
A sound and stable financial system has a direct bearing on economic growth and
development of a country. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) being the regulator of the
banking and financial system has always endeavored to ensure a sound and robust
financial sector capable of efficiently catering to the needs of the public and regulated
institutions. To achieve this coveted objective, SBP has to strike a right balance between
its important goals i.e. to strive and support the development of a market based financial
system and to have an adequate and enabling regulatory framework. Banking Policy &
Regulations Department (BPRD) of SBP has been assigned the task for endeavoring to
achieve the regulatory objective through incorporating required improvements in the
existing regulatory environment besides responding to the need for adaptation of the
international best practices for our banking industry. The Banking Policy & Regulations
Department ensures a close liaison with the Banking Surveillance, Off-site Supervision &
Enforcement, Banking Inspection (On-site), SME & Microfinance Departments and all
other departments of SBP to ensure that policies formulated by it are being implemented
in letter and spirit being the regulatory arm of SBP, the department has developed a new
set of Prudential Regulations (PRs) for various sectors such as Corporate, SMEs, and
Consumer Financing in consultation with Pakistan Banks Association (PBA) and other
stakeholders. To facilitate the banking industry a more liberal branch licensing policy is
adopted. In order to enforce the stringent standards for the corporate governance
envisaged by SBP the department implements the “Fit and Proper Test” criteria for
appointment of key executives in the banks. The department has been managing various
schemes started by SBP along with Corporate Industrial Restructuring Corporation
(CIRC) and Committee for Revival of Sick Industrial Units (CRSIU) for handling the
problems of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the banking sector.
The support given by SBP in the recent years to the banking sector with regard to
innovation and diversification in its activities, has also necessitated, a more composite
and dynamic role of the Banking Policy & Regulations Department. The department
endeavors to put in place a regulatory environment that does not make it difficult for the
industry to innovate and diversify; and at the same time to ensure that their activities do
not affect the soundness and stability of the banking system. The department has also
been entrusted with the responsibilities to develop different schemes that are part of the
developmental role of the State Bank of Pakistan.
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Table of Contents
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History of Pakistan State Bank
Before independence on 14 August 1947, during British colonial regime the Reserve
Bank of India was the central bank for both India and Pakistan. On 30 December 1948
the British Government's commission distributed the Reserve Bank of India's reserves
between Pakistan and India -30 percent (750 Mgold) for Pakistan and 70 percent for
India.
The losses incurred in the transition to independence were taken from Pakistan's share (a
total of 230 million). In May, 1948 Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Founder of Pakistan) took
steps to establish the State Bank of Pakistan immediately. These were implemented in
June 1948, and the State Bank of Pakistan commenced operation on July 1, 1948
Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, making a speech at the opening of the
State Bank of Pakistan.
Under the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, the state bank of Pakistan was charged
with the duty to "regulate the issue of bank notes and keeping of reserves with a view to
securing monetary stability in Pakistan and generally to operate the currency and credit
system of the country to its advantage".
A large section of the state bank's duties were widened when the State Bank of Pakistan
Act 1956was introduced. It required the state bank to "regulate the monetary and credit
system of Pakistan and to foster its growth in the best national interest with a view to
securing monetary stability and fuller utilisation of the country’s productive resources".
In February 1994, the State Bank was given full autonomy, during the financial sector
reforms.
On January 21, 1997, this autonomy was further strengthened when the government
issued three Amendment Ordinances (which were approved by the Parliament in May
1997). Those included were the State Bank of Pakistan Act, 1956, Banking Companies
Ordinance, 1962 and Banks Nationalization Act, 1974. These changes gave full and
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exclusive authority to the State Bank to regulate the banking sector, to conduct an
independent monetary policy and to set limit on government borrowings from the State
Bank of Pakistan. The amendments to the Banks Nationalisation Act brought the end of
the Pakistan Banking Council (an institution established to look after the affairs of NCBs)
and allowed the jobs of the council to be appointed to the Chief Executives, Boards of the
Nationalized Commercial Banks (NCBs) and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs).
The State Bank having a role in their appointment and removal. The amendments also
increased the autonomy and accountability of the chief executives, the Boards of
Directors of banks and DFIs.
The State Bank of Pakistan also performs both traditional and developmental functions to
achieve macroeconomic goals. The traditional functions may be classified into two
groups:
1- The primary functions including issue of notes, regulation and supervision of the
financial system, bankers’ bank, lender of the last resort, banker to Government, and
conduct of monetary policy.
2- The secondary functions including the agency functions like management of public
debt, management of foreign exchange, etc., and other functions like advising the
government on policy matters and maintaining close relationships with international
financial institutions.
The non-traditional or promotional functions, performed by the State Bank include
development of financial framework, institutionalization of savings and investment,
provision of training facilities to bankers, and provision of credit to priority sectors. The
State Bank also has been playing an active part in the process of islamisation of the
banking system.
Banking:
The State Bank of Pakistan looks into a lot of different ranges of banking to deal with the
changes in economic climate and different purchasing and buying powers. Here are some
of the banking areas that the state bank looks into;
1- State Bank’s Shariah Board Approves Essentials and Model Agreements for Islamic
Modes of Financing
4- Micro Finance
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5- Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
8- Opening of Foreign Currency Accounts with Banks in Pakistan under new scheme.
This is a chart of trend of major assets and liabilities reported by scheduled commercial
banks to the State Bank of Pakistan with figures in millions of Pakistani Rupees
Agriculture credit
Audit
Banking Inspection
Banking Policy & Regulations
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Banking Supervision
Corporate Services
Economic Analysis
Financial Monitoring Unit
Monetary Policy
Research
Statistics and Data Warehouse
Exchange Policy
Human Resource
Information Systems & Technology
Islamic Banking
Legal Services
Library
Payment System
Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS System)
Small and Medium Enterprises
Training and Development Department (TDD)
Treasury Operations
Strategic & Corporate Planning
Microfinance
Pakistan Remittance Initiative
Governor:
The principal officer of the SBP is the Governor. The current Governor of State Bank of
Pakistan is Mr. Shahid H. Kardar.
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9. V.A. Jaffrey, 10-07-1986 TO 16-08-1988
10.I.A. Hanfi, 17-08-1988 TO 02-09-1989 (first term), 01-09-1990 TO 30-06-1993
(second term)
11.Kassim Parekh, 05-09-1989 TO 30-08-1990
12.Mohammad Yaqub, 25-07-1993 TO 25-11-1999
13.Ishrat Husain, 02-12-1999 TO 01-12-2005
14.Shamshad Akhtar, 02-01-2006 TO 01-01-2009
15.Syed Salim Raza, 01-01-2009 TO 02-06-2010
16.Yasin Anwer(acting), 02-06-2010 TO 08-09-2010
17.Shahid H. Kardar, 08-09-2010 TO present.
After having a challenging year in terms of achieving price stability, 2010 was the year of
recovery in growth and ease in inflationary pressures for the country. This coupled with
improvements in external sector indicators and exchange rate stability helped SBP to ease
its monetary policy stance during the year with a 150 basis points cut in the discount rate.
The first cut came in August 2009 when the discount rate was reduced from 14 percent to
13 percent. Then in November 2009, it was further slashed by 50 basis points. However,
in subsequent months of the fiscal year, SBP adopted a cautious approach by keeping the
discount rate unchanged at 12½ percent keeping in view the resurgence in inflationary
pressures and uncertainties in fiscal and quasi fiscal indicators.
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For the efficiency of monetary policy formulation, SBP increased the frequency of
releasing monetary policy statements to six times in a year. Four of these are only briefs
on monetary policy decisions issued as press releases while two are detailed accounts of
prevailing economic conditions and policy decisions announced in press conferences.
Another step for strengthening the effectiveness of monetary policy was the introduction
of interest rate corridor in August 2009 that helped in anchoring the short term interest
rates and improving liquidity management in the money market. To develop and
strengthen bond market in the country, an Electronic Bond Trading Platform (EBND)
was launched in January 2010 through Bloomberg. The key features of this platform are
dissemination of real time information to investors, ability for price makers to trade on
firm and anonymous orders, straight through processing interface with local settlement
systems, etc.
During the year, SBP expanded its analytical and research activities to micro level
information of the economy to improve its understanding of economic dynamics. A
primary survey was launched to study the price setting behavior of economic agents.
Contacts were established with different industrial and trading units to get firsthand
knowledge of their activities and issues. And field trips were made to study economics of
agriculture sub-sectors.
Monetary Policy:
To enhance the efficacy of monetary policy, the central bank decided in September 2009
to increase the frequency of monetary policy decisions to six times in a fiscal year.
Hence, it was decided that monetary policy decisions would be announced in the last
week of July, September, November, January, March, and May. It was also decided that
the January and July decisions would be accompanied by a detailed statement and press
conference, whereas the rest of the monetary policy decisions would be announced
through a press release only. Hence in FY10, SBP issued four brief monetary policy
decisions and two monetary policy statements. The monetary policy stance went through
several stages during the year, from easing in the first half, to maintaining status quo in
the second half. Striking a balance between improvements in various macroeconomic
indicators and ongoing economic challenges, SBP eased the policy discount rate as well
in FY10.
The first move towards easing the stance was in consideration of the improvements in
Macroeconomic indicators. And the central bank decided to lower the policy rate by 100
bps w.e.f. August 17, 2009, as detailed in the monetary policy statement for July-
September 2009. At that point in time, CPI inflation showed a declining trend,
government borrowing remained within the quarterly limits specified in the IMF SBA,
and SBP‟s foreign exchange reserves exhibited a rising trend. The positive indicators, in
turn, were reflected in a contraction in aggregate demand; much needed fiscal
consolidation, and improved balance of payments position. However fiscal and real
sector performance remained tenuous during the year. Lending to the private sector
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remained subdued and structural issues specifically electricity shortages diluted the
optimism of a steady recovery. Sustainable recovery of the real sector of the economy
was not possible without a revival of the business environment and availability of credit
to the private sector. Structural weaknesses in the economy continued to pose a threat to
inflation in the presence of uncertainty regarding outcome of ongoing fiscal consolidation
and timing of official foreign inflows. This led to keeping the policy rate of the central
bank unchanged in the MPS announced at the end of September 2009.
Although the cumulative flow of credit to the private sector showed retirement during the
initial months of FY10, it witnessed significant improvements in the second quarter. This
was in consonance with the growth in Large Scale Manufacturing (LSM). Throughout
this period, the central bank strived to maintain monetary stability without jeopardizing
real economic activity. In this perspective, SBP decided to lower the policy discount rate
by 50 bps in November 2009. However, inflation outlook in January 2010 turned
vulnerable due to delays in fiscal consolidation and re-emerging international commodity
price pressures. After careful evaluation of associated uncertainties in the economy,
policy rate was kept unchanged at 12.5 percent. In the subsequent months, inflation
showed some persistence due to increases in electricity tariffs, adjustments in the prices
of domestic petroleum products, and administered prices of commodities. In addition to
this, uncertainties pertaining to fiscal and quasi-fiscal indicators (in terms of government
meeting its tax mobilization targets), the central bank maintained the policy discount rate
at this level in the MPS for March and May 2010.
The main thrust of liquidity management by SBP is to maintain stability in the short term
interest rate environment, and to bring greater transparency in the implementation of
monetary policy. To achieve these objectives, SBP introduced an Interest Rate Corridor
for the money market overnight repo rates effective from August 17, 2009. The corridor
is operated through standing overnight repo / reverse-repo facilities (i.e., floor & ceiling),
setting a formal corridor for the money market overnight repo rates consistent with the
monetary policy stance of State Bank of Pakistan. As a result, volatility in the interbank
overnight money market repo rate came down substantially during FY10.
SBP liquidity management mainly focused on the shorter end of the yield curve. OMOs
remained the primary tool for monetary management. Liquidity situation mostly
remained under stress during FY10 because of governments continued reliance on
domestic banking sector for financing its budget deficit as there were less than
expected inflows on account of foreign economic assistance as well as a shortfall in
the revenue collection.
Consistent with monetary policy stance, the weighted average O/N rate inched up to
11.74 percent during FY10 compared with 10.75 percent in FY09. The increase in the
rate was accompanied by a considerable reduction in the volatility of weighted
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average O/N rates, which is attributable primarily to the introduction of interest rate
corridor.
To manage their liquidity position, banks frequently approached SBP for standing O/N
repo and reverse repo facilities during the year. Banks placed Rs 869.1 billion using repo
(deposit) and availed Rs 807.3 billion using reverse repo (borrowing) during the year.
Most of the placements took place during Q4-FY10 indicating easing of the market
liquidity conditions, due to inflows from government on account of PEPCO, Pakistan
Steel, PSO, FX, and other government accounts due to year-end payments by the
government.
SLR and CRR requirements for banks remained unchanged during FY10 as SBP had to
ensure sufficient availability of liquidity in the system for smooth sailing of the Financial
Sector. Banks heavy investment in government securities – a safe haven – resulted in
holding of excess reserves to the tune of Rs 773 billion (which is 36.0 percent of TDL
against the total mandatory CRR and SLR ratio of 24.0 percent) at the end of FY10.
In its endeavor to tackle double-digit inflation, SBP continued to follow a tight monetary
policy stance during FY10. A relatively higher discount rate helped bring down the
inflation numbers, even reaching a low of 8.9 percent in October 2009. Encouraged by a
declining inflation rate trend, SBP cut the discount rate by 100 bps and 50 bps in August
2009 and November 2009 respectively to facilitate the economic recovery process.
However, with the rebound of inflation afterward, SBP followed a cautious approach and
the policy rate was kept on hold to preserve the much needed economic recovery.
System's liquidity remained tight for most of the year, mainly due to government
borrowings and relatively higher demand from private sector resulting in upward trend of
key interest rates. Consequently the yield curve also shifted upward (See Figure 1.4). As
a result of tight liquidity conditions, the benchmark 6-month KIBOR hovered around
SBP reverse repo rate (ceiling). A similar trend was also seen in the 6-month PKRV yield
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borrowings, the outstanding balance of the PIBs has increased to Rs 505.29 billion at the
end of FY10 compared to Rs 440.99 billion at the end of FY09.
a. A central display provides the best live quotes by price makers of all outstanding
issues.
b. Dissemination of real time information to investors on transactions in fixed income
market.
c. Price takers can approach multiple price makers for firm quotes.
d. Choice for price makers to enter and trade on firm, anonymous orders.
e. Facilitate for users to customize their counterparty credit database.
f. Option to manually input any bilateral deal which is not concluded on Bloomberg
through a “Voice Trade Capture” feature.
g. Although this is a front-end system, “straight through processing” interface is possible
with local settlement systems and banks‟ internal systems as it is based on FIX protocol.
The introduction of this platform is expected to provide not only a boost to fixed income
market, it also has a lot for all market participants. The availability of real-time
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information about yields and turnover will help the issuer in determining demand for its
paper and make better funding decisions. Moreover, the platform is likely to attract more
investors to the market as the price discovery process becomes much easier resulting into
enhanced liquidity and lower liquidity premium. This will also result in further
development of liquid yield curves for various market segments. With the availability of
a widened investor base, banks would be able to shift government debt from their books
freeing up funds for private sector credit.
The Banking Services Corporation (BSC), being an operational arm of SBP, continued to
further improve its service delivery mechanism in an automated environment. During
FY10, the SBP-BSC undertook various initiatives to better discharge its core
responsibilities assigned in the SBPBSC Ordinance 2001. The Bank aggressively pursued
a talent management strategy with focused approach on recruitment and selection. The
process started with the induction of 24 cash officers for the field offices of Muzaffarabad
and D.I. Khan to meet their specific needs. The Bank’s Board also approved a
management trainee scheme (OG-2) titled ‘Young Professionals Induction Program’
(YPIP) to induct young officers on regular basis. Further, realizing the need for
supportive and capable middle management to steer the reform process, the Bank
advertised OG-3 level positions. To improve the skill sets of existing staff, training
opportunities were provided. Also the use of IT and Globus in BSC has improved timing
in service delivery. For ensuring effective internal controls in an automated environment,
risk register, system based check lists have been introduced in some areas. The remaining
areas of operations risk registers are developed on a fast track basis.
Besides its core responsibilities, BSC with its enhanced mandate in line with the new
vision for its 16 field offices played a significant role to make them focal points for
dissemination and implementation of SBP policies/initiatives. As a result, during FY10
this not only helped to improve financial awareness but also resulted in healthy feedback
from stakeholders.
During FY10, a number of projects were completed to improve physical infrastructure
including renovation and refurbishing of various floors of BSC head office and its field
offices to uplift the face of State Bank of Pakistan and to provide efficient services in a
better working environment.
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Currency Management:
To automate cash operations at field offices, efforts were made to equip them with the
latest cash handling machines such as, coin / note counting machines, loose note counting
machines, tri-color stamping machines, note / packet banding machines, bundle banding
machines, shrink wrapping machines, note shredding machines, hole punching machines,
and triangular cut machines. During FY10, an amount of Rs 12.349 million was incurred
for purchase of above those cash machines. With a view to optimize the utility of
currency Globus system, different reports have been developed for providing swift
information to the Management for making timely decisions. To create awareness about
the security features of the currency notes, CMD arranged 166 special outreach programs
throughout the country for general public, cashiers of commercial banks, and other
stakeholders during 2009-10. To enhance the operational knowledge of the employees of
SBPBSC regarding currency management and operations, foundation level and
intermediate level trainings were imparted to 55 and 24 employees respectively during
FY 10. Advanced trainings for detection of counterfeiting were also arranged at Forensic
Laboratory of Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC) for 49 officials of
SBP/BSC and Police Department.
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Apart from the above initiatives, the following tasks supplementing the core
responsibilities of Currency Management Department were also accomplished during the
year:
3- CNP Implementation
BSC has been vigorously providing support and undertaking allied activities for
reinforcing the Clean Note Policy (CNP) of State Bank of Pakistan. To achieve greater
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efficiency and transparency in cash monitoring of branches of commercial banks, as also
to overcome the problems confronting the general public with regards to the circulation
of soiled notes in the market, previous instructions of on-site examination of commercial
banks have been revisited in totality. In this regard, master circular has been issued to all
field offices containing methodologies, enhanced coverage, and annexure for recording
irregularities committed by banks. Five thousand four hundred eighty four branches of
commercial banks were examined by cash monitoring teams of field offices during FY10
compared to 5,670 branches last year. Consequently, an amount of Rs 8.427 million has
been recovered during FY10 on account of violations of various instructions of CNP as
against fine of Rs 3.885 million last year.
1- To enhance the coverage and to provide improved and timely services to the
general public, seven more scheduled banks namely; M/s Habib Metropolitan Bank
Limited, Arif Habib Bank Limited, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., Standard
Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited, JS Bank Limited, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited
and Barclays Bank PLC, Pakistan have been authorized during the year under review to
deal with the National Savings instruments, i.e., Defense Savings Certificates and Special
Saving Certificates through their branch network in Pakistan.
2- For convenience and security of the general public, 10 field offices of SBPBSC have
been shortlisted for holding draws of prize bonds of different denominations.
3- To make the draw process more transparent, the draw ceremonies of National Prize
Bonds are now covered through video recording.
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Banking Services to the Government:
SBP BSC as a banker to the government is extending banking services through its 16
field offices to the federal, provincial, local governments, and general public across the
country, which includes revenue collection and payments on behalf of government
departments. Further, to strengthen the banking services, agency agreement has also been
signed (by Finance Department SBP) with National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to work as
an agent to facilitate government departments using a wide network of 1,243 NBP
branches. Under the agreement, the NBP provides facilities on behalf of SBP BSC to
withdraw/ deposit cash and other allied banking transactions pertaining to government
collections and payments. The consolidation and reporting of federal, provincial, and
district governments’ accounts and maintenance of Zakat account, its collection,
disbursement, consolidation, and reporting to concerned quarters is one of the main
responsibilities/ core functions of BSC Accounts Department. Data pertaining to
government transactions is reported to stakeholders including Accountant General of
Provinces, Accountant General Pakistan Revenue, Pakistan Railways and other
concerned departments on regular basis. The daily position of government balances is
also provided to the Finance Department for onward submission to the stakeholders.
During the year, daily cash position and balances were also reported through email to
some stakeholders.
During FY 10 around 5.77 million transactions pertaining to government
receipts/payments were handled by BSC offices compared to 6.036 million transactions
in the preceding year. During the year under review around Rs 4.82 billion Zakat was
collected compared to Rs 5.54 billion last year.
The tax revenue collected by SBP BSC offices and the network of NBP branches on
behalf of the government and credited to the relevant accounts during the year was
around Rs 1,364 billion compared to Rs 1,200 billion last year. The same was reported to
FBR electronically on daily basis.
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For successful implementation of EPARS, a series of meetings and discussion were held
during FY10 between FBR and SBP and other stakeholders, wherein different modalities/
regulations of the system were discussed, designed, and finalized. SBP and SBPBSC are
providing every possible support to FBR to make this task of national importance a
success. All the tasks assigned to SBP and SBP BSC was completed timely. It is expected
that EPARS would be successfully launched very soon.
Major Achievement/Initiatives:
3- Towards cost saving, the department started publishing consolidated Show Cause
Notice in respect of more than one accused.
4- Due to continuous persuasion, one of the authorized dealers agreed to issue NOC in
respect of 72 cases out of 202 involving US$ 8,581,172 lying indecisive since 2002.
5- A new position titled ‘Administrative Office’ (Courts) was created at HOK to ensure
that all the pre-adjudication formalities have been fulfilled by the complainant and that
complaint is complete in all respect.
6- Repatriation of 29.2 million US$ being the highest since the inception of FEAD has
been achieved during FY10.
Improving financial outreach was the stimulating force behind the establishment of
Development Finance Support Department (DFSD) and its units in SBP-BSC. The aim is
to supplement efforts of Development Finance Group of SBP concerning financial
inclusion by capitalizing on the field presence of the SBP BSC in 15 cities across
Pakistan.
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FY10 was another successful year for DFSD to promote SBP’s strategy of augmenting
financial deepening. The efforts during this year not only helped to improve financial
awareness but also enhanced the feedback from stakeholders. The 13 field units across
Pakistan helped in dissemination of SBP’s policies besides obtaining feedback on vital
regional and sectoral issues. In this regard, the Focus groups meetings for SME,
agriculture and Micro finance sectors remained vital in highlighting demand and supply
side issues. A total of 65 Focus Group meetings were arranged during FY10, from which
26 were on Agri-finance, 22 on SME, 13 on Micro finance and remaining on
miscellaneous issues. This year, the number of total meetings has shrunk due to increase
of time span, from quarterly to biannually, to provide sufficient time to resolve the
stakeholders’ issues and to suggest appropriate amendments in SBP’s policies to
concerned departments. In FY10, DFSUs organized around 271 events/meetings with
objective to support the vision of DFGSBP. The arrangement of 48 awareness programs
in various regions was to attain this objective. Moreover, 8 Agri, SME & Microfinance
fairs/exhibitions were also organized with joint efforts from commercial banks and local
chambers, traders, and farmer associations. These fairs have enhanced the understanding
of SBP’s policies and commercial banks’ financial services among local people.
Moreover, the fairs also provided a platform to local chamber/farmer representatives and
bankers to build better relations and understanding which may help in resolving issues.
The deficiency of trained and competent human resource in many commercial banks is a
major supply side issue which hinders the pace of financial growth. The unfamiliarity of
staff with key Agri/SME issues and with SBP’s initiatives may hamper the interest of
stakeholder in utilizing bank financing.
In addition, it is one of the main reasons of banks’ reluctance to participate in Agri/SME
lending. Even though, the number of agriculture and SME customers using formal modes
of financing is increasing; however, a large segment of our population is still relying on
informal credit channels.
The DFSD has commenced the capacity building training programs for commercial
bankers’ to equip them with better understanding of main issues. During the year under
review, 20 capacity building trainings were organized by DFSUs. Moreover, DFSD has
entered into phase-III of pilot project of one window operation on Agri-financing with
coordination of Agriculture Credit Department.
Furthermore, to create close association with educational/vocational institutes, the
Development Finance Units staff and Chief Managers made 51 visits/meetings this year.
These efforts would help to broaden the vision and understanding of students/faculty
members regarding dimensions of finance world and also to enhance their interest in
local economies. As a result, many DFSUs like Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Sukkur, and
Gujranwala are successfully conducting studies/surveys with active participation from
academia. The Cotton belt study, prepared by DF Multan unit with the assistance of
students from Bahauddin Zakariya University, was an effort to explore the rural cotton
economy and to encourage banks to increase their exposure in agriculture financing. The
study was based on the survey conducted in Pakistan’s top ten cotton producing districts
with the aim to highlight the problems prevailing in cotton sector along with to enhance
the financing facilities for farmers. In addition, the young students have also been given
an opportunity to participate in internship programs arranged by several DF units.
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The chief economic adviser and his team’s visits to various DF units and meetings with
stakeholders was another highlight of this year. Their keen interest in grass root issues
prevailing at local/regional level has encouraged the DF staff to pace up their efforts of
discovering regional economies. Likewise, the concept of DFSD regarding formulation of
‘Regional Profiles’ is to indicate the existing obstacles of local/regional markets as well
as to explore the export potential. A number of regional profiles are in process according
to the guidelines provided by DFSD-Karachi.
Moreover, to achieve the goal of poverty alleviation and growth of financial sector,
DFSD also coordinates with district/provincial government departments. The close
linkages of DFSUs with provincial agriculture, livestock, and revenue departments help
to highlight the stakeholders’ problems in front of concerned authorities. In this regard,
various meetings/seminars were organized in which government officials were also
invited.
During FY10, Central EFS Verification Division has been merged in Development
Finance Support Department; earlier it was a part of Strategic Planning Division, SBP
BSC HOK. The main purpose of this Division is to maintain uniformity in the process of
on-site verification of Export Refinance cases across BSC field offices, provide necessary
guidance to the verification teams at BSC offices, and to prepare consolidated reports on
each commercial bank on the basis of findings of the verification teams for onward
submission to the SME finance Department, SBP. During the period under review, 42
consolidated on-site verification reports of different banks have been prepared and sent to
SME Finance Department, SBP for necessary action. During the verification process,
46,964 loan cases granted to commercial banks by the BSC offices were reviewed and
fine amounting to Rs 46.1 million has been recovered from the exporters and banks on
the advice of verification team on account of non compliance to various instructions of
the SBP on EFS. Going forward, DFSUs have proposed to arrange various awareness
programs/ meetings/ seminars in upcoming year. The conceptualization of introducing
‘Shariah compliant’ financing modes at micro level is in process. In this regard, the idea
to establish an ‘Islamic focus group’ is also in pipe line. The campaign of improving
financial literacy among common people is also being developed. Various industrial
cluster studies by DFSUs, with association of academia, are under way. The Lahore
office is conducting auto parts cluster study to highlight the issues/potential of industries
of auto parts and agricultural machinery. The work on power loom cluster study along
with another research on exploring Citrus export potential is also in process in DF
Faisalabad. The Quetta and Gujranwala offices are contributing their efforts by exploring
live stock potential in Baluchistan and fisheries sector in the latter respectively. In FY10,
DFSD has published a survey report highlighting socio economic conditions of
Gujranwala region. In future, the Lahore office would also prepare a survey on the same
lines.
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Internal Audit and Controls:
In SBP BSC, prime objective of IAD is to examine and evaluate whether the Bank’s
framework of risk management, internal control, and corporate governance processes is
adequate and functioning properly. Audit exercise spans over the whole year and Annual
Audit Plan of Internal Audit Department describes audit goals and schedule of audit of
SBP BSC offices and departments. The Committee of the Board of SBP BSC on Audit
formally approves the audit plan. Audit reports along with the executive summary of
audit observations comprising high/medium risk observations detected during the audit of
an office or department are submitted to the Managing Director SBP BSC for review.
Concurrently, the same is forwarded to the Executive Director, Internal Audit &
Compliance Department, SBP, for perusal and onward submission to the Governor, State
Bank of Pakistan. During the year under review audit reports of 16 SBP BSC and 3
department of HOK were issued.
Internal Audit Department has completed its re-structuring process and Internal Audit
Units at the level of SBP BSC Field Offices were transformed into Audit Hubs at Karachi
and Lahore with the aim to improve monitoring, expanding efficacy of internal controls
and timeliness of reporting to senior management. Both the Audit Hubs are now fully
functional and carrying out periodical audit of SBP BSC offices as per their monthly
audit program. During 2009-10, 46 audits of various BSC offices/ departments were
conducted by the teams of audit hubs.
To strengthen the enforcement and compliance functions, a compliance officer has been
assigned to each audit team, who ensures compliance of the audit reports and timely
resolution of issues highlighted in executive summary of audit observations. Compliance
reports received from the offices and departments are being processed in IAD and are
submitted to the Managing Director of SBP BSC. The Committee of the Board of SBP
BSC on Audit is a key institution in the context of corporate governance. Three Audit
Committee meetings were held during the year to review the internal audit reports,
findings incorporated and recommendations including the detection of acts of fraud and
irregularities of material nature. The committee provides guidance and gives instructions
for implementations besides continuously monitoring the performance of Internal Audit
Department. To meet the technological challenges as well as for skill development and
enhancement of its staff, Internal Audit Department has procured Audit Command
Language (ACL) software, which would enable Internal Audit Department to carry out
audit of system data available on GLOBUS and ERP Oracle. Appropriate training of
audit officials was also arranged from foreign trainer on TOT basis.
Further, an officer of Internal Audit Department was also sent to Slovenia for training on
Central Bank Internal Audit module.
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Training and Development:
The Training & Development Department (T&DD) has been making efforts to steer the
‘capacity building’ initiatives within SBP BSC through different types of interventions.
Due to aggressively pursued training schedule, a total of 1997 officers were trained
during FY10 in both function specific and soft skill modules compared to 1,817 in FY09.
The structured training efforts initiated in FY08 in pursuit of building efficient teams
continued with the same fervor in its third year. Apart from extending function specific
and soft skill trainings to existing employee with higher number of participants than last
year, a pre-induction training program was also held for a group of cash officers recruited
for D.I. Khan and Muzzaffarabad offices. The development of course curriculum for 12-
weeks training program for the participants of Young Professional Induction Program
(YPIP) was also a landmark of the T& DD during this year. Moreover, holding of
management training program for the line managers (Chief Managers) and start of
Dedicated English Writing Skill (DEWS) program were also achievements during the
year.
Another important development during FY10 has been the opening up of foreign training
Opportunities to SBP BSC officers. With our prime focus on bringing about a paradigm
shift in the behavior/ attitude of officers and to improve their skill set to build SBP BSC a
dynamic and vibrant organization ready to face future challenges, a team of well reputed
trainers from within BSC, SBP and different training institutions having a good repute
across Pakistan were engaged.
To foster its role and come to the expectation of BSC stakeholders as embedded in its
mission and vision statements, exclusive programs for counter staff and their supervisors
were initiated to instill among them the art of providing friendly customer services.
Taking into account higher average age of the SBP BSC employees and gap in job related
skills, nontraditional training solutions were also introduced besides increasing the
coverage and scope of the existing training programs.
During FY10, SBP BSC also offered summer internship program to about 155 students of
MBA, MPA, Economics discipline, etc. from accredited universities/ institution across
Pakistan.
etc.) due to diverse location of 16 field offices. The satellite training initiative introduced
last year with the active support of NIBAF (wherein trainer designated by NIBAF
travelled to selected field offices to conduct the training sessions) proved highly
successful in expanding the coverage especially of soft-skill programs in a more cost
effective manner. We therefore plan to improve upon the modalities of satellite training
and continue conducting nearly all soft-skills training programs through this mode.
BSC has been making efforts to equip its Lahore and Islamabad offices with video
conference facilities. We also intend to utilize these facilities as and when available to
deliver training programs next year with cost efficiency.
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Strengthening Payment Systems
Safe and efficient Payment Systems are critical to the effective functioning of financial
systems in a country. Payment Systems are the procedures, instruments, and channels by
which funds are transferred and settled between financial institutions. It comprises both
retail and wholesale payment systems. The retail payment systems, inter alia, include
Alternate Delivery Channels1 (ADCs) which facilitate and process e-Banking
transactions in a country. Wholesale payment systems are systemically important (such as
Real Time Gross Settlement Systems), and process high-value low-volume transactions.
Payment Systems Department (PSD) at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has taken
various steps and instituted policy measures for efficient working and security of
Payment Systems in the country. Electronic banking in Pakistan has shown tremendous
growth over the last decade. And it has achieved greater efficiency and won customer
satisfaction because of high reliance on advanced technologies and integration of systems
at regional and global levels. PSD has taken various measures issuing instructions and
guidelines to effectively regulate, oversee, and safeguard ADCs. One such measure is the
EMV2 compliance. In December 2008, all Point of Sale (POS) terminals, which process
Debit/Credit card transactions in the country, were successfully migrated to EMV
standard. Banks have also been advised to replace magnetic stripe based cards with smart
or Chip-based Cards by the end of 2010. The Plastic Cards embedded with Chips
containing sensitive consumer information provide high level of security.
During FY10, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) under the Tax Administration Reform
Program (TARP) embarked upon a project titled Electronic Payment and Refund System
(EPARS). And the Payment Systems Department has been facilitating various
stakeholders within SBP, Commercial banks, and FBR on this project in designing the
payment and settlement modalities (by using RTGS) for the project, defining dispute
resolution mechanism, and ensuring data integrity and security, etc.
To promote the use of banking channels for inward foreign home remittances to
respective beneficiary accounts anywhere in Pakistan, Payment Systems Department, in
collaboration with Exchange Policy Department, has introduced a Payment Systems
Architecture during FY10 for a project called Pakistan Remittance Initiative (PRI) jointly
undertaken by State Bank of Pakistan, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Overseas
Pakistanis. The objectives were to credit the beneficiaries’ accounts on the same day,
using RTGS platform for inter-bank settlement, bring efficiency and transparency in the
remittance system and boost foreign exchange reserves in the country. The initiative has
started to materialize and highest-ever remittances amounting to USD 8.906 billion were
received in FY 10 showing an increase of 14 percent over the previous year.
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issued comprehensive ‘Operating Rules’ for PRISM operations, prepared after extensive
deliberations with stakeholders both internal and external. Moreover, a facility for
settlement through PRISM System has also been extended to NCCPL (National Clearing
Company Pakistan Ltd) via participating banks. NCCPL is responsible for clearing of
shares traded in all stock exchanges of Pakistan.
ATM is one of the most widely used and preferred ADC in the country. ATMs are
Commonly used for comparatively small value cash withdrawals; therefore its share
In total number of electronic transactions has been recorded to be the highest, i.e., 59
Percent. During FY10, the average value of ATM transactions3 was Rs 7,826 compared
To Rs 7,336 last year. Share of Real Time Online Banking (RTOB) and Point of Sale
(POS) in e-Banking transactions was 31 percent and 8 percent respectively. Other e-
Banking Channels such as Call Centre, Internet and Mobile Banking, however, had
Comparatively low share in total E-Banking transactions.
In terms of value, RTOB contribution was 93.5 percent as this channel is used mostly for
business to business (B2B) transactions. ATM contributed 5 percent in the value of
transactions. The shares of POS, Internet, Mobile banking, and Call Center banking were,
however, nominal in total value of e-Banking transactions
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IV- Transactions through ATMs
During FY10, in terms of volume, ATM transactions registered an increase of 27 percent
Compared to 34 percent last year. In terms of value, the amount of ATM transactions
increased by 35 percent compared to 48 percent increase in the previous year. Apart from
cash withdrawal, ATMs are also used for inter-bank funds transfers, cash deposits,
payment of utility bills, etc. In Pakistan, on average, daily 71 transactions were executed
per ATM during the year.
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Conclusion
Every authority concerned with Co-operative sector will have to play its part in ensuring
that the aspirations of the Urban and rural Co-operative Banking sector are nurtured in a
manner that depositor interest and the public interest at large are protected. The role of
SBP could, thus, be to frame a regulatory and supervisory regime that is multi-layered to
capture the heterogeneity of the sector and implement policies that would provide
adequate elbowroom for the sector to grow in a non-disruptive manner. The State and
Central Governments could recognize that the SBP are not just co-operative societies but
they are essentially banking entities whose management structure is that of a co-
operative. They should recognize the systemic impact that inefficient functioning of the
entities in the banking sector could have. Consequently, it would be in the interest of the
sector if they support, facilitate and empower the Commercial banks to put in place
mechanisms and systems that would enable these SBP to perform their banking functions
in a manner that is in the overall interest of the depositor and the public at large.
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