Govt decides to turn CDNS into corporation

New organisation will introduce paper-less bonds, provide banking services

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has, in principle, decided to turn the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) into a corporation, under which scrip-less bonds will be issued.

In addition to that, micro-lending, submission of bills and other banking services will also be introduced. Investors will be able to register the bonds, which will help them avoid loss or theft as the bonds will be kept with the Central Depository Company (CDC).

Following the conversion of CDNS into a corporation, an independent board of directors will be formed in which professionals from the departments concerned will be included.

In the first phase, the complete digitisation of Karachi and Faisalabad regions has been completed for the national savings department. In the second phase, the process will be completed in Islamabad and Lahore regions in October while formal launch will be done in November 2019.

Govt raises profit rates on savings certificates

Besides this, the customers of CDNS will be given ATM cards from October. In this regard, CDNS Director General Arshad Mehmood confirmed that CDNS was being turned into a corporate entity, adding that the draft of Pakistan Savings Bill 2019 had been prepared and was being finalised.

Officials revealed that the federal government had taken the decision on transforming CDNS into a corporation in order to run it more professionally. However, the corporation will be under the control of the government and will run as a corporate entity rather than a company.

After the corporatisation, the CDNS will be regulated by the central bank and the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). Currently, no department is regulating it.

Responding to a question, the CDNS DG said the department currently had 376 branches across the country and people had made investments of up to Rs4 trillion in the national savings scheme.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 3^rd, 2019.

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