‘All stakeholders must patronise AJK bank’

AJK chief secretary suggests routing all government business through the bank.

MIRPUR: “All stakeholders of the Bank of Azad and Jammu Kashmir must come forward and patronise the bank by their routing businesses,” Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Chief Secretary Muhammad Arbab Shahzad said.

“We as stakeholders of this state-owned financial institution must repose our confidence in the bank and play due role for its sustainable growth,” he said. Being a state-owned entity a sizeable chunk of government business should have been routed through the bank, therefore, all government departments and autonomous bodies of the state must act to strengthen the bank, he added.

Shahzad was addressing a reception hosted by the managing director of the Bank of Azad Jammu and Kashmir on his appointment as the chairman of the board of the AJK bank in Muzaffarabad on Friday.

Earlier, a detailed briefing highlighting strengths and challenges faced by the bank and measures to be taken for obtaining the status of a scheduled bank was given to the participants. The chief secretary said that he will explore all possible avenues to raise more capital for the bank.

Liaqat Ali Shah Hamdani, finance secretary and member of the board, said he will devise a mechanism for routing all government business and will reassure the implementation of all directives issued earlier by the government in connection with handling of state’s business through the bank.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2012.