Khushhali Bank will set up its branches in all the districts of the country by the end of 2007 to enhance service outreach to the majority of poor households while maintaining financial sustainability.
The bank is striving hard to achieve institutional strength and establish distribution network of 100 service outlets across all districts of the country.
President Khushhali Bank Ghalib Nishtar while talking to APP here on Wednesday said presently the bank was serving nearly half a million households.
He said Khushhali Bank was one of the top ten banks of Asia who were providing loans to establish Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on easy terms and conditions.
He said the bank launched on August 6, 2000 with ADB financial assistance of $150 million had attained institutional sustainability during its second phase of 2001-05 having total assets of nearly $100 million.
The bank had so far made disbursements of $91.6 million through its 133 service outlets to 344,358 clients in 75 nation wide districts, the bank president added.
Ghalib Nishtar said Khushhali Bank was the largest micro-finance institution in the country and had been one of the fastest growing in Asia. This increased micro financing would help boost business activities in the country, he added. He said the bank has a centralised processing and nation-wide network with an ability to acquire over 100,000 new clients annually.
The market response was overwhelming and the private sector recognised the micro finance in Pakistan as viable business proposition and was investing $50 million by establishment of five micro finance institutions, he added.
President Khushhali Bank said the bank was playing a critical role in bringing about a positive change in the lives of rural people, especially empowering women, as the access to finance helped them in contributing to family Income.
Pakistan's proactive efforts towards achieving the milestone of making micro-credit available to the majority of its masses, were making a contribution to achieving this important goal within the strategic framework of country's Micro-finance Development Strategy, he added.
He said, "Our experience has synthesised evidence, which leads us to believe that there is a large unmet demand at the grass-root oriented financial services sector. This promises huge potential for future expansion of micro finance activities and is especially true for remote rural areas where the commercial and other formal Institutions have limited exposure," he said.
Ghalib Nishtar added that there was a tremendous potential for setting up branches, service posts or mobile delivery schedules to remote communities to expand service outreach.
This would supplement their resources and enable them to invest and benefit from the opportunities being created as a result of greater economic stability and higher levels of growth being witnessed by Pakistan, he added.