MCB Bank reports profit of Rs21.89b
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): The 69th Annual General Meeting of the shareholders of MCB Bank Limited was held on March 29, 2017 at Pearl- Continental Hotel Lahore under the chairmanship of Muhammad Ali Zeb. The chairman informed the members that the bank continued with its strong performance on account of low cost deposits base, significant uptick in advances, controlled operating expenditure and significant contribution from non-markup income. Despite compression in interest rate spreads coupled with significant maturities in high yielding government bonds, MCB Bank Limited reported Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs36.07 billion and Profit After Tax (PAT) of Rs21.89 billion. Net mark-up income of the bank was reported at Rs43.8 billion, down by 11.25pc over last year. On the gross mark-up income side, the bank reported a decrease of Rs12.97 billion which was mainly on account of decreased yields on advances and investments in-line with interest rate movements.
On the non-markup income front, the bank reported a base of Rs16.22 billion with major contributions from fees and commissions, capital gains and dividend income. On the interest expense side, the bank registered a decrease of Rs7.42 billion over last year, which commensurate with the decreasing interest rate environment and bank’s strategy to taper off its high cost deposits during the year.
Govt initiates National Debt Retirement Programme
KARACHI (Staff Reporter): The government has launched National Debt Retirement Programme (NDRP) with a view to discharge the ever increasing national debt liabilities.
Amounts in NDRP were to be accepted from an individual, firm, company, body and institutions etc under the categories of Donations (NDRP-I); Qarz-e-Hasna (NDRP-II) and Term Deposit (NDRP-III), said a SBP press release issued on Wednesday. The deposits under NDRP-I (Donations) were non-refundable whereas deposits under NDRP-II and NDRP-III were for a minimum period of two years. Depositors were issued a receipt/certificate against deposits under NDRP-II by banks and Special Saving Certificates (SSC)/Defence Saving Certificates (DSC) were issued against deposits under NDRP-III by Central Directorate of National Savings, Ministry of Finance. After maturity of two years, the depositors were able to encash their amounts at par in case of NDRP-II and as per terms & conditions of SSC/DSC for deposits under NDRP-III.
It has come to notice of SBP that some of the deposits with banks under NDRP-II are pending or still unpaid. All such depositors may approach their respective branch of banks along with the original receipt/certificate for encashment of their deposits under NDRP-II (Qarz-e-Hasna). The commercial banks have also been advised to facilitate the claimants and encash the deposits after due verification in accordance with respective rules & procedures.
The banks after making the payments will claim reimbursement from SBP against the deposit of paid documents and instruments etc.
FBR activates Alternate Dispute Resolution forum
ISLAMABAD (Staff Reporter): The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on the advice of Tax Reforms Commission has activated the forum for Alternate Dispute Resolution under the existing legal framework, in view of the fact that presently 27,000 appeals are pending before Appellate Tribunal Inland Revenue (ATIR) and 5,000 cases before the Customs Tribunal. It may be added that approximately 13,000 cases are pending before various high courts while around Rs300 billion revenue is stuck up in appeals. Realising the enormity of huge stock of appeals and gigantic target for the last quarter of fiscal year 2016-2017, the FBR has notified that panels of professionals including members of civil society having impeccable integrity have been included in the panel for dispute resolution. Alternate Dispute Resolution Committees ADRCs shall be formed within 60 days of receipt of application from taxpayers. The ADRCs shall furnish its recommendation within 90 working days.
The recommendations of ADRCs shall be assented or otherwise by FBR within 90 days and if no decision is taken by FBR after the expiry of 90 days, the recommendation of ADRCs shall be binding. In this connection ADRC panels for 15 cities have been notified which will be helpful in resolving pending tax disputes through alternate dispute resolution mechanism. The Tax Reform Commission had played pivotal role in activating these forums which were dormant since more than one decade.
Seminar held on environment protection
LAHORE (Staff Reporter): Provincial Minister for Population Welfare and Environment Protection Begum Zakia Shahnawaz has said that the government is taking all measures to comply the international environmental standards, rules and regulations as it could give immense benefits to the economy besides controlling huge number of demises caused by the pollution. She expressed these remarks during a seminar on “Environment of Success – Not Cost but Opportunity”, jointly organised by the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Punjab Environment Protection Department and World Wildlife Fund, here at the Lahore chamber. “We don’t want to tease you, we want to take business community on board with due honour and respect to evolve a joint strategy to cope with the environmental challenges”, the minister said. She said that compliance to environmental standards is a prerequisite to do business with the developed world therefore the Environment Department is working tirelessly to educate the business community on these standards.