HBFC corporatisation

The House Building Finance Corporation is reported to be pursuing a bold corporatisation plan to enhance its activities in the financial sector, for which it has set targets to be achieved in four quarters, between July-September 2005 and April-June 2006. The idea behind the effort, as revealed in a Recorder Report, is to usher in a new era in which tormenting bottlenecks and bureaucratic tangles would stand completely eliminated.
Quoting reliable sources, the report has it that the ongoing process starting with the finalisation of HBFC charter and its clearance from the Ministry of Finance, also provides in the first phase, for establishment of a new private limited company - "House Building Finance Company Ltd." The second quarter October-December, 2005 has been marked for incorporation of company with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan.
This is to be followed, in the third quarter January-March 2006, by transfer of assets and liabilities of HBFC to the new company. Thence onward it would function as a Public Limited Company regulated by SECP, thereby leaving the HBFC (old Co) to survive as "shell" company.
As for the final phase, the fourth quarter would bring an end to the shell company, with the completion of legal procedures and formalities at the Ministry of Finance.
As for the post-corporatisation thrust of HBFC, reference has been made to a visionary plan to relocate its branches to easily approachable places, and making them customer-friendly through one-window operation to eliminate the difficulties faced by the customers.
Understandably, as such, also on the anvil is a computerisation plan for record keeping, as the existing manual mode is not only time consuming but also irritating, more so for customers paying all the dues and wanting to close their accounts.
The present system results in considerable delays in getting the property documents released from the HBFC. That a software firm has been given the task to develop a programme covering all the areas of HBFC working, should appeal to reason. For, it has been pointed out that, presently, the HBFC is facing stiff competition from its rivals, as more than 24 commercial banks are now involved in the same business as HBFC.
As such, it has to resort to product innovation, market development, market penetration, time and cost efficiency, in order to remain an active player in the financial market. Similarly, understandable is the urge for human resource development, with due emphasis on excellence to eliminate the weak spots in its working.
The remedial steps desired to be taken in that direction will be seen as rightly focusing on strengthening of accounts and audit, through induction of professionals. All these ideas, put together, will definitely point to the increasing emphasis on efficiency and transparency, so critical to competition in a sphere as vital as housing.
However, now that a whole new formidable dimension has been added to housing in the country, as a consequence of the utterly devastating impact of last week's unprecedented earthquake, the whole approach will call for a thorough and expeditious revamping.
For the challenges thrown up by so widespread destruction of dwellings, both in urban and rural areas, more so in yet unreachable parts of the country. Viewed in this perspective, the visionary plan of the HBFC to expand its reach, and to increase its competitiveness, will pale into insignificance, so colossal has become the task of housing, which had been a problem area already.
The HBFC would better not only speed up its plan for corporatisation, which is lagging behind schedule, but also brace up quickly for the more challenging task ahead, in the aftermath of the calamitous quakes.