F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: A leading businessman and leader of United Business Group, former senator, Ilyas Ahmad Bilour has urged the State Bank of Pakistan to give unprecedented authority to regional heads of the commercial banks, allowing them to issue letter of credit, loans and independently deal with other affairs to facilitate business community.
UBG leader in a statement issued here on Thursday expressed grave concern over not giving authorities to banks regional heads regarding issuance of letter of credit, loans and other facilities to the business community.
He added the regional heads of Commercial Banks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, especially in Peshawar didn’t resolve minor-nature issues of industrialists and traders’ community, consequently, the economy as well as industrial and business activities were adversely affected in the province.
Ilyas Bilour, who is also senior leader of Awami National Party said the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry has played a pivotal role in making regional heads of commercial banks more autonomous in affairs relating to the business community, because of which, the banks have promptly released a loan up to Rs 5 Million to traders by the regional heads, he added.
But, he said the regional heads of commercial banks are even currently unable to issue letter of credit, besides the process has also been made complicated in this regard.
The UBG leader said the approval of minor-nature issues of commercial banks has been made mandatory from Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, which has created many difficulties for the business community.
Bilour said that KP was declared as ‘red-zone’ by the commercial banks, terming it as completely unjust and unfair to the business community of the province.
Despite the issuance of a letter of credit, he said that the process of others’ documents scrutiny and approval has been unnecessarily delayed, which was a waste of precious time of the community.
The UBG leader said despite the improving deposits of the commercial banks, the lending ratio is very low in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has made it difficult to make the dream of industrialization in the province true and bring economic prosperity and change here.
He urged the State Bank of Pakistan, being a regulatory authority, to have instructed the commercial banks to give unprecedented autonomy to their regional heads in order to facilitate the business community.
Otherwise, he added, keeping the regional heads of the banks powerless would not only further create problems for the trading community, but it will also slowdown economic development and industrialization in the province.
