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Thursday March 28, 2024

SME Bank merger with NBP proposed

ISLAMABAD: The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Bank facing mammoth liabilities of Rs5.2 billion is proposed to be merged with National Bank of Pakistan as it has not been managed professionally in the past.The proposal came from the President of the SME bank Mr Ihsan ul Haq Khan in his

By Khalid Mustafa
March 29, 2015
ISLAMABAD: The Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) Bank facing mammoth liabilities of Rs5.2 billion is proposed to be merged with National Bank of Pakistan as it has not been managed professionally in the past.
The proposal came from the President of the SME bank Mr Ihsan ul Haq Khan in his presentation made here on Saturday in Finance Ministry.
During his presentation focusing on the future prospects of the bank under various proposals, he pitched an idea to merge the SME bank with national bank of Pakistan (NBP).
The Federal Minister for Finance, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar chaired a meeting that was attended by senior officials from SME Bank, SBP, Finance Division and National Bank of Pakistan.
The Finance Minister was informed that the audited accounts of the Bank up to December 2014 were available and the bank’s financial standing revealed it was in no position to sustain itself in the face of Rs5.2 billion worth of liabilities.
The minister after detailed deliberations by participants of the meeting viewed that SME bank would have been a great national asset if it had been professionally managed in the past. He said it would have proven to be an effective source for development of SMEs. “It is my sincere desire that the Bank is invigorated and continues its work following world’s best practices.”
The finance minister directed the SBP to come up with concrete proposals in a week’s time on how to turn the SME into a truly vibrant finance institution. “These proposals would be discussed in the next meeting and it will be ensured that the bank’s valuable services are available for the development of the SMEs”, Dar remarked.