This is in regard to the news items aired on different news channels dated October 20, 2010, we would want to respond to the issues identified as under:
1) The appointment of the President-NBP has been made by the Federal government in terms of section 11(3) (d) of the Banks Nationalisation Act 1974 as amended through Ordinance No XII of 2006 and all subsequent re-appointments have been duly notified by the government in accordance with the above Act.
2) It is clarified that the loan write-offs of NBP are substantially lower in absolute as well as percentage terms than peer banks.

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AGGREGATE WRITE-OFFS (RS. IN BILLION) 2000-2008
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                                            HBL           UBL          NBP*
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Principal                                17.779        16.047         4.636
Average Assets (2000-2008)              492.246       325.110       559.720
Write offs as percentage of assets         3.61%         4.94%        0.83%
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Excluding NDFC and Mehran Bank totalling Rs 2.1 billion.Of the cumulative write-offs over the period 2000-2008, 68 percent were mandatory settlements (38 percent represents settlement under SBP Circular 29, 18 percent represents NAB related settlements, 7 percent represents settlement made on the advice of committee for revival of sick industrial units and SBP schemes, 5 percent Court auctions), while the balance of 32 percent represents settlements under various NBP incentive schemes for small borrowers, widows and destitute persons. This demonstrates that almost all write-offs were done under official schemes, NAB settlements or accommodating small borrowers in severe difficulties.
3) Regarding Ms Fauzia Yousuf Raza Gillani, following is the clarification:
As per the directives of the Sindh High Court dated 26.04.2006 the account of Pak Green Fertiliser Ltd was settled by NBP under SBP Circular 29 dated 15.10.2002 under a directive from the Sind High Court dated 26.04.2006.
The court directed the decree holder banks-ZTBL and NBP, to finalise the settlement of their liabilities in terms of settlement scheme of SBP under Circular 29 based on forced sale value of the project assets. In line with the High Court's directives, NBP settled the account in October 2006 and accordingly the settlement amount was shared between ZTBL (main lender 89.76%) and NBP (10.23%).
The main sponsoring directors of the project were:
(a) Chaudhry Munawar Hussain
(b) Khalid Hussain Chaudhry
(c) Zia-Ur-Rehman
Additionally NBP obtained personal guarantees of the following persons in the capacity of directors of the company, each were holding only 12% of the paid up share capital of the company.
(i) Ms Fauzia Yousuf Raza Gillani
(ii) Mst. Anwar Nasreen
(iii) Syeda Samina Abrar
(iv) Ms Nasim Munawar
After the settlement, bank has released the personal guarantees of the directors as per the SBP Circular 29 dated 15.10.2002. The SBP Circular 29 was a scheme aimed at settling long standing non performing loans with the objective of achieving settlements thereby reviving industry and cleaning balance sheet of the banks. NBP requests that NBP's point of view should also be considered and taken before airing/releasing any news or information about NBP.-PR