PBA’s letter to SBP regarding Amendment to Section 83 of the Banking Companies Ordinance (BCO)
On the request and concern of PBA’s members on the proposed amendment to the BCO by way of a private member bill in the Senate, PBA CEO, Mr Tawfiq Hussain has written a letter to the Deputy Governor, SBP, Dr. Inayat Hussain, requesting SBP to take this matter up with the Government to oppose this amendment, which will be seriously detrimental to the banking industry.
The proposed bill aims to amend Section 83 through the Banking Companies (Amendment) Act, 2021, recently introduced in the Senate of Pakistan and proposes to criminalize any refusal/ denial of opening a bank account; issuance of letter of credit; bank guarantee or any other financial facility to Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs). The penalty to be imposed for such a denial/refusal is suggested to be imprisonment up to one year or fine of up to one hundred thousand rupees or both.
The PBA EC upon review of members’ request further obtained a legal opinion on the proposed bill following which the letter was written to the Deputy Governor, SBP with a copy of the legal opinion as given by M/s. Mandviwalla & Zafar.
