KARACHI: President Dr Arif Alvi Saturday said the financial inclusion of special people would have a positive effect on the social and economic progress of the country.

He was presiding over a meeting of Chief Executive Officers and Presidents of banks on the financial inclusion of special people here.

He appreciated the efforts of the banking industry for the special people during the last two years. He said the policy of the banking sector for the special people could also be followed in other sectors. He urged the CEOs of banks to review the issues and challenges regarding facilities given by them in the sector of micro-financing.

The banking sector could encourage women and special persons in availing facility of micro-financing, he said adding special people could play an important role in the economy of the country with financial inclusion and education.

He expressed concern over the incidents of fraud in the banking sector and advised banks to work further on their monitoring system to detect fraudulent transactions. He said under the instructions of the State Bank the alert system for tackling fraud in the banking sector should be strengthened. He stressed that banks should support female employees in taking forward their careers and in achieving a better living standard for their families.

He welcomed the availability of loans on easy conditions to women. However, he said the percentage of women applying for business loans was low.

He said banks should raise awareness about the easy business loans available to women. He said it was encouraging that more women were becoming part of the banking system, adding still more progress was needed.

Governor State Bank Jamil Ahmed told the meeting about the policy framework of the State Bank regarding financial inclusion. He said since June 2021 the State Bank was in contact with all the commercial and micro-financing banks and had issued instructions for the financial inclusion of special people. He thanked Dr Arif Alvi for providing consistent support for the financial inclusion of special people.

During the briefing, he said that 387 model branches were established in 108 districts for special people, adding special people were given internships in the fields of Islamic finance, audit and branch operations. 400 special people participated in the internship programme. About 22 percent of the internees were female.