KARACHI: BankIslami has become the first Islamic Bank to have successfully structured and disbursed Pakistan’s first Shariah-compliant Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWHR) financing issued under the repository system managed by Naymat Collateral Management Company Limited.
To facilitate farmers & aggregators to avoid distress sales during the harvesting period, SECP issued Collateral Management Company (CMC) Regulations in the Year 2019 to create an enabling environment and accredit warehouses for the storage of different commodities.
Naymat Collateral Management Company Limited (NCMCL), the first CMC of Pakistan registered under the said regulations, is authorized to accredit warehouses to accept & store commodities, and issue Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWHR) through a digital repository system duly connecting all relevant stakeholders, including Warehouse Operator, Depositor, Bank and CMC. Banks can access the system to accept EWHR for financing to their customers, as per their credit policy, against stored commodities.
In this regard a ceremony was held at BankIslami Head Office, Karachi to commemorate this first of its kind Shariah compliant EWR financing transaction. The ceremony was attended by President & CEO BankIslami, Syed Amir Ali and Shakaib Arif CEO NCMCL along with other senior officials from both entities.
Syed Amir Ali, President BankIslami congratulated the NCMCL team for taking this important initiative to strengthen the most important link of Pakistan’s Agriculture value chain and making EWHR financing a success.
He emphasized that agriculture is the mainstay of Pakistan’s economy providing food security so any investment in the sector will not only benefit farmers to enhance the crop yield but also help Pakistan to generate foreign exchange through surplus exports.
He further said that BankIslami is keenly focusing on the agriculture sector and consistently growing its Agri portfolio by facilitating farmers through its 340+ branches in more than 123 cities, while offering excellent turnaround times, especially in terms of Shariah Compliant EWR Financing.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022