PESHAWAR – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani Thursday urged all the commercial banks operating in FATA to extend loans and financing facility to their FATA clients adding that it was unfair to deprive clients despite reaping massive deposits from them. “When they are getting handsome deposits from their clients in FATA, they must provide them with loaning facility as well”, the governor stressed while addressing the ceremony of opening of first Islamic banking branch of Bank of Khyber (BOK) in Jamrud, Khyber Agency. BOK Additional Chief Secretary and Board of Directors Chairman Attaullah Khan, BOK Managing Director Bilal Mustafa, Secretary to Governor Sikandar Qayum and Khyber Agency Political Agent Shafirullah and other senior officials attended the ceremony.
The governor appreciated the Bank of Khyber on its first establishment in FATA by initiating Islamic banking in the tribal areas and congratulated the management of the Bank on this momentous decision. He said that it was an appreciative step particularly in light of the current scenario when the government was making strenuous effort to revive and alleviate the economy of FATA and would certainly complement the govt efforts in this regard.
The governor while comparing Islamic banking to the conventional banking system said that Islamic banking was the only alternative to the normal banking. “The Islamic banking system is most relevant to our social and economic requirements and fulfill our needs perfectly”, the governor observed.
He added that the global crisis on international markets which have occurred periodically had compelled economic and financial analysts to look beyond their prejudices and take a long, hard look at the Islamic banking system and its encouraging financial, social and economic implications.
He went on to say that the Islamic banking system could help alleviate social and economic inequalities prevalent in the country and place a precedent on social justice in society.
BOK Managing Director (MD) Bilal Mustafa highlighted the performance of BOK in the field of Islamic banking and said that BOK had achieved a unique status in this market segment. He pledged that the Jamrud branch of BOK would play a vital role in the socio-economic development of the area.
He went on to say that more such branches would be opened in FATA. The MD stressed that under a recent decision special counters for Islamic banking will be opened in all the branches of BOK. He said that 19 branches and 4 sub branches of BOK Islamic banking were operating in the whole country besides 50 branches and four sub branches of normal banking with more than 200,000 account holders.
