Khyber Bank starts internal accountability

The Bank of Khyber (BoK) has launched internal accountability of the bank by sending two of its executive vice presidents (EVPs) on forcible leave to initiate an inquiry against them for alleged involvement in sanctioning of heavy loans without fulfilling the criteria and alleged nepotism in such cases.
Talking to Business Recorder, Managing Director Bank of Khyber, Dr Munir Ahmed said that the two senior officers, Arbab Amjad and Dr Mohsin Khan have not charge sheeted and only sent on leave to carry the investigation in an independent atmosphere, saying that they are not yet held responsible for any mistake.
"We have not made any one target as attention has been focussed on only investigation to prevent such incidents in future and remove deficiency if prevails anywhere in the institution," the managing director said.
However, he said that if the name of any officer in alleged involvement was noticed then they would be definitely brought to book," he maintained.
The decision of the sending of the two senior bankers of the provincial bank came into limelight after a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Khyber, two days back.
The bank has a huge non-performing loans (NPLs) issued in total violation of the criteria of loan sanctioning. In one such case, the bank has even approach the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to help recover heavy loan from M/S Makran Fishries and Pak Export.
The total NPLs portfolio of the BoK is Rs 3.768 billion and a major chunk of more than one billion was outstanding against the two companies.
Arbab Amjad, one of the punished senior bankers was head of the NPLs recovery cell.
For the purposes of recovery the NPLs portfolio has been divided into three categories of low, medium and high risk.
The reduction target in the NPLs for the current calendar year is Rs 480 million ie, 16.82 percent of the total.
The number of the high-risk cases is 44 involving the principal amount of Rs 1.339 billion with Rs 26.968 million mark-up. The target recovery is Rs 100 million in this category.
When asked about the role of the Shariah Advisory Board of the bank in the decision making, Dr Munir Ahmed said that opposition to the members is political and the objections are only over their appointment.
He said that they are honouree members and not receiving any kind of salaries or benefits.
Similarly, he said that they are strictly following the rules and regulations of the central bank.
He dispelled the impression that members of the Shariah Advisory Board of the bank are powerful than Board of Directors, saying that their appointments comes under the later.
He said that the Shariah Advisory Board has no decision making powers and could only advice to the Board of Directors on Islamic matters.