FATF measures help make bank operations clean

The Express Tribune
September 10, 2018


KARACHI: The tightening of the monitoring regime to combat terror financing and money laundering under the umbrella of the inter-governmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is a positive move for the banking industry and the economy at large.
“It (FATF move) is good for us (banks), the economy and from the perspective of tax payments,” JS Bank President and CEO Basir Shamsie said while talking with the media on Friday.
The measures are helping banks make their operations clean. “Banks are recording all the suspicious transactions, doesn’t matter how big or small they are and are reporting to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on a regular basis,” he said.
Pakistan enacts ambitious reforms to comply with FATF
It remained no more a difficult job to detect suspicious financial transactions through banks as “availability of modern technology and software have made the job of detectors easier”, he said.
He said FATF measures are also helping change banking customers’ mindset. “Customers’ mindset is changing in order to declare exact earnings and pay taxes,” he said.
Bank focuses on mortgage, SME financing
He said the low interest rate regime in the country has convinced banks to shift their business strategy to aggressive financing for corporates and individuals from investing significantly in government securities like T-bills and Pakistan Investment Bonds.
“The (benchmark) interest rate is set to increase by 100-150 basis points this year, but it will not bounce back to historic highs,” he said. The central bank has increased interest rate by 175 basis points since January 2018 to 7.5% at present. It hit a historic high of 19.5% in October 1996.
NACTA says it is unable to prepare crucial report for FATF
“JS Bank has shifted its focus to aggressive mortgage financing and SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) financing in recent years,” he said. The bank’s mortgage financing portfolio stands at around Rs7-8 billion at present. “We are targeting to increase it to Rs10 billion in the next one year that remains a difficult task,” he said.
The bank is also preparing to participate in the SBP-introduced subscribed mortgage financing as the central bank has already introduced a policy paper for the purpose recently. “Our bank has become the fourth or fifth largest in terms of SME financing,” he added.
Besides, it was also actively involved in auto and agriculture financing. Its outstanding agri-financing has reached Rs10 billion, he said.

Reference:- 
https://tribune.com.pk/story/1797971/2-fatf-measures-help-make-bank-operations-clean/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Joins Russia in Voting Against West-Backed Move to Expand Powers of OPCW

The Wire: June 28, 2018 New Delhi: India voted against a UK-backed move that will allow the global chemical weapons watchdog to apportion blame for illegal attacks, criticising the decision to grant “unchecked powers” to the head of the group which could be used for “partisan” purposes. On Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted to authorise the international body to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of a chemical weapons attack. It also specifically called on the OPCW’s technical secretariat to begin work on identifying the perpetrators behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The draft decision, sponsored by 30 countries, was adopted at the fourth special session of the conference of the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Hague, with 82 in favour and 24 negative votes. While Europe, the United States and their allies voted ‘yes’, there was strong oppo...
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav...
Read more

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017...
Read more