KARACHI: The Pakistan Banking Awards 2023 ceremony was held on Friday evening here. Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Jameel Ahmad, was the chief guest.
In his keynote address at the awards ceremony, Jameel hoped the current account deficit would remain around 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP this fiscal year. He also discussed some points of the SPB’s strategic plan 2023-28 - “vision 28,” underscoring the need for a resilient financial system to offset the cyber shocks.
The Institute of Bankers Pakistan organised the eighth Pakistan Banking Awards 2023 in collaboration with the Dawn Media Group with A.F. Ferguson & Co, at a local hotel.
Pakistan’s current account deficit clocks in at $74m in October
About the strategic plan, he said it is the first of its kind to ensure the financial stability in the country. “Strong and resilient financial system is pivotal for the microeconomic stability and sustainable economic growth,” he added.
He said cyber threats have grown in the recent years to hit the financial institutions, which not only cause significant financial losses but also reputational damage.
Failing such threats, he said, a culture of financial resilience, supervision and a better management, besides efforts from the SBP, banking sector and other concerned stakeholders are required.
About the challenges to the financial inclusion, Jameel Ahmad said the “financial exclusion” stands a big challenge, adding that a large population of the country still remains out of the banking system. He said that there are direct and indirect adverse consequences of lack of financial access to a large segment of the population, including high usage of cash and reliance on informal savings and borrowing networks.
He said that the SBP has made a good progress in the area of financial inclusion over the past 10 years, adding that the central bank sets it as a main goal for the next five years as well.
He said that one female has the access to the financial services comparing to three male, which shows a wide gender disparity in the country. The SBP vision envisages enhancing the bank accounts coverage to 75 percent of the adult population including low-income clientele, SMEs and farmers to address the challenge of the financial exclusion, he said.
He also talked about the financial technology for the improvement of banks efficiency and customers’ experience, saying that it has the potential to revolutionize the banking sector.
He highlighted the SBP initiatives to build a robust payment system, facilitate the entry of new players, establish trust by adopting international standards and encourage and facilitate the adoption of new technologies.
The initiatives include the introduction of instant payments system Raast, regulatory framework for digital banks and digital onboarding framework in coordination with NADRA, he added.
The SBP Governor also hoped that the country’s current account deficit will not go beyond 1.5 percent of the country’s GDP, saying that it is manageable for the fiscal year 2023-24.
In his welcome address, Chief Executive, the Institute of Bankers Pakistan, Riaz Nazarali Chunara admired the organizing partners for their sponsorship to make this event happen for the eighth consecutive year.
He also lauded the participating banks, financial institutions and non-banks for their serious efforts to take the lead position in the areas of their interest.
The jury, which selected the winners comprising former SBP Governor, Syed Salim Raza, as Chairman with former President and CEO Faysal Bank Ltd, Naved A Khan; MD & CEO English Biscuit Manufacturers (Pvt) Ltd, Zeelaf Munir; Former MD Citibank Javed Kureishi and former Regional Head of Citibank Middle East and Pakistan, Shehzad Naqvi.
Awards for 2023 were distributed to various banks, financial institutions and non-banks for their best performance in ten different categories. A new award category for the Best Fintech was introduced this year.
Meezan Bank Ltd won the Best Bank Award, HBL Microfinance Ltd was declared as the Best Microfinance Bank, Bank Alfalah Ltd, as the Best Digital Banking, Faysal Bank Ltd, as the Best Emerging Bank, Habib Bank Ltd, as the best Bank in Agri Financing, The Bank of Punjab as the Best Bank for Small and Medium Businesses, Habib Bank Ltd, as the Best Consumer Bank and Mobilink Microfinance Bank, as the Best Bank for Inclusion.
In the category of Non-Bank Entity, Haball (Pvt) Ltd, and NayaPay received the Best Fintech Award and National Rural Support Programme the Best Contribution Award.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023