Financial institutions advised to reschedule loans

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday advised microfinance banks to reschedule loans to borrowers of the flood-affected areas under the existing prudential regulations, where the possibility of recovery exists.

For all such rescheduled/restructured loans and advances, the microfinance banks may defer loan provisioning up to December 31, 2011, the SBP said in a circular.

Similar advice was issued to banks and development finance institutions (DFIs) for providing relief to the borrowers of the flood-affected areas to reschedule agriculture and SME loans and advances.

BoP scam co-accused agrees to pay Rs400m

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered a co-accused in the Rs9 billion Bank of Punjab financial scam to pay back Rs400 million by Dec 11.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Tariq Parvez also directed the National Accountability Bureau to place the name of Seth Nisar, who was present in the court, on the Exit Control List and keep his passport with it till the payment of the amount claimed against him.

Seth Nisar is elder brother of Sheikh Afzal, owner of Haris Steel Industries (HSI), Lahore, and the main accused in the BoP scam.