KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced implementation of Regulatory Approval System (RAS) for submission of letters and proposals pertaining to Banking Policy & Regulations Department (BPRD).

In order to further strengthen the organisational efficiency, effectiveness and turnaround time of regulatory approval process, the SBP has been endeavouring to digitise the end-to-end process of various request letters/proposals received from banks/DFIs/MFBs, their approval process and dissemination of regulatory decisions there against.

In the first phase, the SBP initiated the digitisation process of Foreign Exchange Operations Department (FEOD) and Exchange Policy Department (EPD) which has been completed and Regulatory Approval System (RAS) for these departments is functioning smoothly and efficiently. In the similar vein, digitisation of RAS for Banking Policy & Regulations Department (BPRD) has now been completed and being rolled out for industry wide implementation.

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Now, the SBP has announced implementation of RAS for BPRD issues. Accordingly, the SBP has advised the banks to submit their request letters and proposals pertaining to the functional domain of BPRD over the RAS portal. However, in addition to online submission, banks will also continue with the manual submission of such requests till December 31, 2021. These manually submitted requests must bear a unique case number generated on the RAS portal, on the cover page of their request letter.

With a view to ensuring a standardised submission process, banks are also advised to submit their request letters/proposals on the system prescribed forms along with a cover letter and requisite documents. The covering letter shall include a brief description of the underlying request, specific recommendations and be signed by at least two senior officers of Business/Group Head level.

Banks will also require maintaining complete record of cases processed through the RAS portal as per applicable instructions and shall present the same to SBP’s supervision teams, as and when required.

Banks will ensure their users and administrators have thoroughly reviewed the Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the RAS portal before using the system.

To facilitate users, a service desk has been created wherein banks can lodge their complaints in relation to business and technical aspect of the RAS portal.

The cases submitted with incomplete documents or without following the procedures prescribed in User Manual shall not be entertained and shall be returned to the respective institution. SBP will bear no responsibility, of whatsoever nature, due to discrepant submission by the banks.

Periodical regulatory returns submitted by banks on SBP’s Data Acquisition Portal (DAP) or other online regulatory portals will not be submitted on RAS.

Banks are advised to bring the above instructions to the notice of all their relevant constituents and ensure meticulous compliance.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021