KARACHI – Advising banks to rationalize spread after 100 basis points interest rate cut by the State Bank of Pakistan, SBP Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra has directed them to focus on private sector lending and deposit mobilization.
At a meeting with heads of commercial banks and DFIs, he said, “SBP shall review the position by the end of June 2015 and may take regulatory measures to lower the spread.” He said Islamic banks should reward their customers appropriately in line with their surging profits.
He said, “Banks were advised to come up with their own solutions or the SBP will apply Shariah compliant measures to address the issue.” He told the banks to improve their foreign exchange related services for the small customers. ”The staff needs to be appropriately trained, and products developed to assist public in the easy execution of their genuine foreign exchange transactions such as fees or medical expenses,” he said.
He dvised that all possible measures should be taken at institutional level to improve the quality of services. He said SBP will also review its foreign exchange circulars to facilitate the banks but asked them to discourage import of non-essential items by reviewing their internal credit policies.
