Finance & Market

Commercial banks around the globe have designed and utilized Islamic financial instruments according to the rules of Shariah. Section 5(b) of Banking Companies Ordinance-1962 defines the business of banking as “banking means the accepting, for the purpose of lending or investment, of deposits of money from the public, repayable on demand or otherwise and withdrawable by cheque, draft, order or otherwise.” By analyzing both sides of the balance sheet of …

State Bank of Pakistan in collaboration with Karandaaz and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, marked the beginning of 2021 with a digital leap forward following the launch of Raast — Pakistan’s first instant payment system that permits end-to-end digital payments among general public, businesses and government entities. The initiative is part of ‘Digital Pakistan Vision’ aimed at financial inclusion of poor segments and women of our society in the formal …

Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are the important components of economic development. This sector can generate increased productivity & new investment. SMEs have the ability to grow the industrial and commercial tax base. Therefore, its value cannot be ignored and it is the yardstick of most of the economic issues like revenue generation, poverty, unemployment and a slow growth rate. It can generate opportunities for a very heterogeneous group concerning …

In Pakistan, Islamic banking has registered substantial growth over the last few years. Along with increase in number of branches, windows and diversity of Islamic banking products and services, the size of Islamic banking balance sheet has improved significantly. The growth continued during FY20, as the assets and deposits of the Islamic banking grew by 21.4 percent and 22 percent, respectively. Due to substantial growth, Islamic banking has become systemically …

Mudasar, a young Pakistani adept at graphic designing, left for the UAE a couple of years ago and resided in Sharjah with his family having gotten assurances from his boss in the UAE that his job is stable and there is no need for any sort of perturbation. His confidence inflated in the wake of adulation received for his work acumen. To undergo a tantalizing foreign experience, he concurred to …

A recent report of World Bank titled Digital Pakistan in Covid-19 Environment advocates for IT and IT enabled services, automation and artificial intelligence, which can play a more prominent role to put the economy of Pakistan back on track. In this regard, Telenor International Research Report emphasizes use of artificial intelligence and digitization for all times to come, in view of the large number of workforce, both in public and …

Digitization has become a part of everyday life with the introduction of smartphones and availability of social media. This has brought the banking industry at the verge of possibly the greatest revolution in history as it is more of a matter of life and death for this industry to get the digital banking right. Banks are already at a crossroad with the adoption of digitalization as can be seen prominently. …

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) through its recent initiatives and actions has focused its attention on finance-deficient areas such as financial inclusion, low cost housing facility, agricultural credit, SME finance and most importantly, the Green Banking phenomenon. In accordance with its strategic policy, given the importance of SMEs being attached to our economic development, SBP is playing a facilitator’s role, aimed to increase the orderly flow of financing to SMEs. …

Easypaisa is Pakistan’s first mobile banking platform launched in 2009, the only GSMA mobile money certified service in the country. Initially launched as a money transfer service, Easypaisa empowers underserved masses by bringing convenience and freedom to their lives, and has today become an icon in money transfers, synonymous with convenience and reliability. Easypaisa was launched in 2009, and began with just 4,000 outlets across the country. At present it …

Pakistan is one of the major beneficiaries of foreign remittances, whereas the volume of foreign remittances to Pakistan has also increased in recent past. The growth of these flows has outpaced Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and official development assistance to the country. Pakistan started to export manpower abroad particularly in the Middle East countries following oil price boom in the early 1970s. Because of labor shortage in the Middle East, …