LAHORE - The Bank of Punjab (BoP) on Friday signed an agreement with Bank Albilad of Saudi Arabia, under which both banks would offer their services for home remittance. The Bank Albilad offers money services to remitters in Saudi Arabia and BoP will act as an agent in Pakistan for the distribution to the beneficiaries through its network of branches. The remittance will be free of charges on both ends, i.e. remitter and the beneficiary. BoP President Naeemuddin Khan and Bank Albilad Group Head of Retail Banking Shahid Sattar inked the agreement. While addressing the press, BoP President Naeemuddin Khan said the agreement with Bank Albilad represents an excellent opportunity for BoP to contribute towards the enhancement of remittance flows through State Banks programme 'Pakistan remittance initiative (PRI) in Pakistan and will be able to serve overseas population better and bring precious foreign exchange into the country. He also said through this agreement, a proper channel is being offered to overseas Pakistanis to remit their earning through BoP and Bank Albilad. According to him, the Bank of Punjab is improving day by day. As on June 30, the banks deposits stood at Rs 200 billion, which is a record high. Also, in one year, the bank has recovered Rs 11 billion cash, which is also a new record for the bank. The Bank has also successfully made financing arrangement for wheat procurement in Punjab. With the collaboration of 20 or more so commercial banks Rs 50 billion financing was arranged, from which Rs 17 billion belonged to the Bank of Punjab. Thus, all these figures reflect that the bank is getting stronger. He refused to comment on the Haris Steel Mill Case on the pretext that it was 'sub judice matter. However, he said that the all the money would be recovered and the bank is strictly following the prudential regulations set by the State Bank of Pakistan. On the occasion, Shahid Sattar, Bank Albilad Group Head of Retail Banking, said his bank is a leading bank in Saudi Arabia, in fact third largest Islamic bank. He also said they already have arrangements with other commercial banks of Pakistan for home remittance and now they have partnered with BoP, since it has a vast network.