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PESHAWAR: The election of three members of the board of directors of the Bank of Khyber (BOK) from Karachi triggered a debate in the banking circle if the management of the bank is being transferred into the hands of the private sector.
Sources said previously the secretary industries and secretary agriculture were also the BOD members, adding but now despite holding 80 percent shares of the bank the government is being represented only by the additional chief secretary, secretary finance, the bank’s managing director, executive director and a recently-inducted industrialist.
They said the three Karachi-based members—Seth Ismail Maqsood, Javed Akhtar and Asad Mohammad Iqbal (one of them holding 26 percent of the BOK’s shares)—might meddle into the bank’s affairs. Latter two had no banking background, they said, adding, however, they replaced Muhammad Asif, an experienced banker, and Amjad Pervez, an ex-executive of the BoK, who left the bank during the provincial government of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) to head a brokerage house.
Since their election on May 28, 2012, they paid not a single visit to Peshawar. Instead, the bank’s management used to hold board meetings in Islamabad to facilitate these blue-eyed members, criticised the sources. The board’s chairman, additional chief secretary, secretary finance along with other members and officials ought to travel to the federal capital to attend the meetings, they said. “Even they did not turn up in an important meeting of the bank held in Islamabad on October 18, 2012 where crucial decisions were to be taken.”
Sources said Masood Wahidna, another Karachi-based investor who is also head of the treasury committee of the BOK is looking after over Rs15 billion worth of bank’s investment as its implementer. He is also assisting the bank’s investment committee. However, Chairman of the bank’s BOD, also Additional Secretary KP, Attaullah Khan, dispelled the impression that the induction of three members from Karachi in the BOD implied the shifting of the bank’s management from the province. “They in no way can influence the BOD’s decisions. The provincial government holds major representation on the board,” he clarified. Further, he pointed out that it was impossible to shift the management and even shares of the bank above a certain limit to any private party without moving a bill in the provincial assembly seeking an amendment to The Bank of Khyber Act 1991. “And only amendment to the act could lead to any such decision,” said Khan.
To the assertions of the sources, Seth Ismail Maqsood told The News from Karachi on phone that the bank belonged to the people of the KPK and he had only served them by putting in his best as a member of the BOD. “The bank’s balance sheets of the last four years are a proof of that,” he said. “I consider myself a trustee; I will never betray or breach this trust,” said Maqsood.
He added: “The BOK was near bankruptcy four years ago. Now its deposits have gone up to Rs60 billion and it is still expanding. It is opening more branches. Its lending portfolio is expanding. My vision of the BOK is that it should become a true national-level bank.”
Sources said previously the secretary industries and secretary agriculture were also the BOD members, adding but now despite holding 80 percent shares of the bank the government is being represented only by the additional chief secretary, secretary finance, the bank’s managing director, executive director and a recently-inducted industrialist.
They said the three Karachi-based members—Seth Ismail Maqsood, Javed Akhtar and Asad Mohammad Iqbal (one of them holding 26 percent of the BOK’s shares)—might meddle into the bank’s affairs. Latter two had no banking background, they said, adding, however, they replaced Muhammad Asif, an experienced banker, and Amjad Pervez, an ex-executive of the BoK, who left the bank during the provincial government of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) to head a brokerage house.
Since their election on May 28, 2012, they paid not a single visit to Peshawar. Instead, the bank’s management used to hold board meetings in Islamabad to facilitate these blue-eyed members, criticised the sources. The board’s chairman, additional chief secretary, secretary finance along with other members and officials ought to travel to the federal capital to attend the meetings, they said. “Even they did not turn up in an important meeting of the bank held in Islamabad on October 18, 2012 where crucial decisions were to be taken.”
Sources said Masood Wahidna, another Karachi-based investor who is also head of the treasury committee of the BOK is looking after over Rs15 billion worth of bank’s investment as its implementer. He is also assisting the bank’s investment committee. However, Chairman of the bank’s BOD, also Additional Secretary KP, Attaullah Khan, dispelled the impression that the induction of three members from Karachi in the BOD implied the shifting of the bank’s management from the province. “They in no way can influence the BOD’s decisions. The provincial government holds major representation on the board,” he clarified. Further, he pointed out that it was impossible to shift the management and even shares of the bank above a certain limit to any private party without moving a bill in the provincial assembly seeking an amendment to The Bank of Khyber Act 1991. “And only amendment to the act could lead to any such decision,” said Khan.
To the assertions of the sources, Seth Ismail Maqsood told The News from Karachi on phone that the bank belonged to the people of the KPK and he had only served them by putting in his best as a member of the BOD. “The bank’s balance sheets of the last four years are a proof of that,” he said. “I consider myself a trustee; I will never betray or breach this trust,” said Maqsood.
He added: “The BOK was near bankruptcy four years ago. Now its deposits have gone up to Rs60 billion and it is still expanding. It is opening more branches. Its lending portfolio is expanding. My vision of the BOK is that it should become a true national-level bank.”
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