New microfinance bank to start operations

Waseela Microfinance Bank is subsidiary of Egypt’s Orascom.

KARACHI: A new microfinance bank – Waseela Microfinance Bank – will commence operations across the country soon as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has given the go-ahead in this regard. Earlier, the SBP issued a licence to the bank.

According to an announcement made by the SBP on Friday, Waseela Microfinance Bank, a subsidiary of Orascom Telecom Holdings of Egypt, has become the seventh microfinance bank to operate on nationwide basis whereas two microfinance banks are operating at the district level.

The central bank expressed the hope that the commencement of business by Waseela Microfinance Bank would result in a significant increase in market share of regulated microfinance banks within the overall microfinance sector.

“This will also lead to increased provision of inclusive financial services in rural and remote areas of the country,” it said.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 21^st, 2012.