SBP issues licence for Sindh Bank

Three branches to be opened by December 25, says acting chief secretary.

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued a licence to the Sindh government for the formation of Sindh Bank.

According to an SBP’s spokesperson, the central bank issued the licence according to the schedule and Sindh will be allowed to start complete banking operations.

The paid-up capital for the new bank will be Rs10 billion, which will be raised through public private partnership.

Sindh Bank branches will initially be set up in the province and then expand throughout the country. According to Sindh’s Acting Chief Secretary Ghulam Ali Pasha, three branches of the bank will be set up initially by December 25 in Karachi, Hyderabad and Larkana. The bank aims to open 50 branches within two months.

Pasha said that the bank is focusing on providing agriculture loans and small and medium enterprise (SME) loans.

He said that the Sindh government will gradually shift its accounts to the newly formed bank and expected the bank to attract more than 100,000 deposit accounts quickly.

Hiring will be on merit, said Pasha, adding that transparency will be maintained through public-private partnership.

The board of directors of Sindh Bank comprise the board’s president Bilal Sheikh, Abdul Wahab, Javed Mehmood and Wazir Ali Khoja from the private sector and the chief secretary of Sindh, the additional chief secretary and the secretary for finance from the public sector.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2010.