Finance Division has constituted a three-member Advisory Committee to restructure Zarai Tarqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL), which is being penalized by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for functioning without a Board for the last three years.

According to a notification issued by the Ministry of Finance, the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance & Revenue has constituted Advisory Committee with the following composition: (i) former Finance Minister, Shaukat Tarin( Convener);(ii) former Chairman NBP, Zubyr Soomro (member) and ;(iii) Atif R. Bokhari (member) to make ZTBL a dynamic bank meant to serve the agriculture sector effectively.

The committee has been authorized to co-opt any members, if required, to accomplish the task. However, no timeframe has been given to the committee in this regard.

The Terms of Reference (ToRs) of the committee will be to advise the Finance Division on reforming and restructuring the ZTBL in order to enable it to achieve its objective of serving the needs of the farming community by delivering financial products and technical services on competitive and sustainable basis.

The notification says that the proposed reforms/ restructuring reforms shall include (i) structural reforms; (ii) strategic directions and ;(iii) any other important suggestions which the committee may deem appropriate. ZTBL will provide secretarial support to the Advisory Committee.

"Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to strengthen structural reforms and has assigned the task to two experienced bankers who turned around public sector banks," said President ZTBL Shahbaz Jameel.