I urge the management of the State Bank of Pakistan to rethink its decision
KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to move five core departments of its main subsidiary Banking Services Corporation (BSC) to Lahore with the stance that the move has been undertaken to improve operational efficiency of BSC. However, this is far from the truth. The nature of work at these core departments requires experienced and specialised human resource and close coordination with SBP departments. The HR needs at Lahore will be primarily filled through new and inexperienced personnel from Lahore and its surrounding areas whereas Karachi-based experienced employees will be moved to support functions at the Karachi office.
Employees based in Karachi have been given a very short timeline to confirm their willingness to relocate to Lahore and are being told that they will not be provided any monetary benefit if they do decide to relocate to Lahore. It is quite evident that this decision is absolutely politically driven and aims to shift the power of SBP BSC to Lahore. This will also impact the functioning of core operations that work in close alignment with departments at SBP. The space vacated by SBP BSC departments in Karachi is to be utilised by SBP departments whereas the management could have easily addressed underlying capacity issues through additional construction at the SBP Karachi premises instead of opting for an ill-thought and politically-driven transfer to Lahore. On behalf of employees of SBP BSC Head Office, I urge the management of the State Bank of Pakistan to rethink its decision.
Ali Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, October 16th, 2016.
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