Shaukat Tarin likely to get finance ministry
KARACHI - Ex-Chairman Karachi Stock Exchange and President Saudi-Pak Commercial Bank Shaukat Tarin is likely to be appointed as advisor to Prime Minister on Finance after the resignation of Ishaq Dar.
Sources confided to The Nation that the name of Mr Tareen is being considered as Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance. As Mr Tarin is neither senator nor MNA, he can be adjusted as Adviser just like Dr Salman Shah to run the Finance Ministry. It may be mentioned here that PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari has decided to immediately appoint adviser or Finance Minister to run the affairs of the ministry to ensure smooth sailing of the new budget process. Sources said that the name of Mr Tarin was being speculated in the corporate and PPP circles on Monday as he is a very senior banker and an expert of financial sector.
Sources said that current political scenario reflects a cordial relation between presidency and Asif Ali Zardari, which will pave the way for Shaukat Tarin to hold the responsibilities of finance ministry. Sources said that the experience and past record of Shaukat Tarin suggest that he is the right man to tackle the current economical challenges of the country. Mr. Tarin had long experience in banking industry and had remained head of Citibank, HBL and Union Bank.
Moreover, he had been elected twice as chairman of KSE. However, due to rules of the regulatory requirements of SECP and KSE, he had to quit his second tenure of chairmanship of the KSE to join Saudi-Pak Commercial Bank as President. Mr Tarin-led consortium of foreign investors had acquired recently the Saudi-Pak Commercial Bank.
Full Version: Shaukat Tarin Likely To Get Finance Ministry
Allah Ka Shukar hai!
Plus he is someone from the Aziz era, so investor confidence should be high at the moment.
Plus he is someone from the Aziz era, so investor confidence should be high at the moment.
Nawaz & Lawyers Kill Pak Economy
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The real test of leadership for Nawaz Sharif was the economy, not the judiciary. You need brains for the economy. Any one can play hooliganism and politics, which is what the so-called judicial ‘issue’ is all about.
Did you hear Nawaz Sharif even once mention the economy in his press conference Monday night when he announced he was ditching the coalition government?
Did he once in his recent media events offer any solutions?
He generally touched on “the problems that all of you know” and pretended that somehow the question of the reinstatement of a bunch of politicized judges was the real reason why all of us are facing economic problems.
Read these two brief, simple and brilliantly written reports on the Pakistani economy. They offer a balanced picture of the good and the bad. After reading them, you will notice how the two writers have more common sense than some of our leaders, unfortunately.
Investment Banking
Investors take long view on Pakistan economic turmoil
By: Mike Gallagher
Falling rupee coupled with high food and fuel prices in Pakistan causes concern for investors. World Bank says “painful adjustments” are necessary to overhaul economy.
Reports have emerged that some investors are pulling out of Pakistan as a depreciating rupee caused by a weakening dollar and political uncertainty is blunting investor appetite. The rupee has dived by nearly 9 per cent since the start of the year to a little under 70 rupees to the dollar. The Pakistani currency has fell by two rupees in just one day’s trading last week amid concerns over rising inflation, which is at a 13 year high and falling foreign investment. Pakistan’s low foreign exchange reserves means that the central bank could struggle to keep the rupee above the 70 to a dollar mark.
Pakistan is currently attempting to access a $500 million loan facility from the World Bank, which it hopes to have before the end of June, although some of the conditions that the World Bank might impose are reportedly making the Pakistani authorities.
The World Bank said in a statement that Pakistan would need to undergo "painful adjustments" if it was to be able to stave off the effects of high inflation which has been brought on by a combination of high oil
prices and soaring commodities costs.
World Bank vice president Praful Patel bluntly said that Pakistan had not yet reached crisis point, "but the economic picture for Pakistan is not good. Growth can only continue if Pakistan adjusts to the new global reality, which includes high prices for oil, commodities and foodstuffs such as wheat," he said.
This was echoed by the central bank. "We are not in a crisis like situation. Several measures are in place to remove macro-economic imbalances," Shamshad Akhtar, the State Bank of Pakistan Governor said. She also said that they would continue to support foreign exchange rate stability to “curb excessive short term fluctuation".
However, Patel said, “On the issue of food, Pakistan, I would say, is in an even more difficult situation that Bangladesh. They have a two million tonne deficit in the wheat harvest this year, so they need to import wheat at a time when it is simply not available and what is available is at a very high price.”
Meanwhile, a report on Pakistan’s Geo TV said that Pakistani real estate companies have been moving capital out of the country to the tune of at least $15 billion so far to invest in Gulf real estate.
One analyst said, “People who were stung by the credit crunch had been looking at Pakistan, even before the Bhutto assassination took place and while the political situation is becoming more stable, you need to look at what kinds of deals are taking place in the infrastructure market there. I think there are deals still happening, but it is hard to say accurately what is happening off the back of the current situation.”
All this comes at a time when several financial institutions from the GCC and South East Asia have announced they were moving into the troubled country to set up banks or insurance companies by teaming up with local entities or by going it alone. The likes of Al Baraka, Habib bank, Oman International Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and most recently Maybank, have entered the country. Maybank said it was preparing to pay around $930 million to acquire a 20 per cent stake in MCB Bank.
In the summer of 2007, Qatar Islamic Bank, the fifth largest Islamic bank in the world and the largest Islamic bank in the Qatar, said it was planning to launch an Islamic bank in Pakistan with paid up capital of $100 million.
Ahmad Barghout, senior manager of the corporate investment and developments group at Qatar Islamic Bank speaking to CPI Financial said, “Both Pakistani and GCC companies are opportunity driven. There are opportunities in both areas and I think investors are taking the long term view.”
While the current economic and political instability in Pakistan is causing concern in some circles, Mansoor Khan, managing director of Lahore-based law firm Khan Associates told CPI Financial that conventional banks would probably be more affected by the turmoil than their Islamic counterparts.
“The conventional banks are western, risk-averse and do not understand ‘Pakistan risk.’ Islamic banks are primarily Middle Eastern or Asian and have a better understanding of the mentality of Pakistan. They will not be put off,” he said.
Source: CPIfinancial.net
Pakistan Inflation Accelerates to Fastest in 25 Years (Update3)
By Farhan Sharif
May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's inflation accelerated at the fastest pace in at least 25 years in April because of surging food and fuel prices, straining a six-week-old coalition government already on the brink of collapse.
Consumer prices jumped 17.21 percent from a year earlier after gaining 14.1 percent in March, the Federal Bureau of Statistics said in a statement in Islamabad today.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's party said it will quit the coalition led by the Pakistan Peoples Party tomorrow, hampering the government's ability to rein in prices. Dar said May 4 that oil and food prices are undermining the fight against poverty.
``If the trend continues, it will cause serious concerns to the new government,'' said Farhan Rizvi, an economist at JS Global Capital Ltd. in Karachi. ``Oil prices have added to already high food prices, which directly hit the masses.''
Oil at more than $125 a barrel and lower wheat output are straining state finances as food and fuel are subsidized in the nation of 160 million people. Hundreds of people queue for hours outside state-run shops to buy subsidized wheat flour and other essential goods across the nation.
Food prices in April rose 25.5 percent from a year earlier and fuel climbed 8.6 percent, according to the data. Inflation is the highest since at least June 1983, according to JS Capital. The statistics bureau doesn't have data preceding the year 2000.
Stocks, Currency
Pakistan's key stock index rose 0.4 percent to 14,286.61 after falling 4.9 percent last week, the biggest weekly decline in almost nine months. The rupee rose 1 percent against the dollar to 69, after losing 6.8 percent last week, the most since 1998. Inflation data was released after markets closed.
Almost half the population of Pakistan, the world's seventh- most-populous nation, faces difficulty gaining access to affordable food because of the soaring cost of cereals, a World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said on April 23.
The Rome-based United Nations agency increased its estimate of the number of so-called food insecure people in Pakistan to 77 million from 60 million.
The nation may import more than 1.5 million metric tons of wheat this year to ease the shortage, farm minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali said on April 24.
The average price of pulses has risen about 50 percent since January, said Fareed Qureshi, chairman of the Karachi Retail Market Association. Average edible oil prices have climbed 16 percent since the start of the year and rice is 26 percent more costly than it was on Jan. 1, he said.
``Pakistan's prices of wheat, flour, edible oil and pulses are at a record now,'' Qureshi said.
Oil Bill
Pakistan, which imports about 85 percent of the oil it uses, increased prices of gasoline for the first time in more than 22 months on Feb. 29 after record crude prices increased import costs for the nation's refiners. Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority, the regulator, has since raised prices three more times.
The trade deficit widened to $2.3 billion in April from $1.1 billion because of the rising oil import bill, the Bureau of Statistics said on May 10.
The central bank increased its benchmark interest rate for a second straight meeting on Jan. 31 to tame inflation. The discount rate for commercial lenders was raised half a percentage point to 10.5 percent for the six months ending June 30. Inflation may exceed the government's target of 6.5 percent this year, curbing economic growth, the central bank said on March 31.
``The inflation is paced mainly by food and oil prices,'' said Suleman Akhtar, an economist at Foundation Securities in Karachi. ``In current conditions, a rise in interest rates would not do much.''
China, India
Rising commodity prices are also stoking inflation in neighboring India and China. Prices in China accelerated to near the fastest in more than 11 years, the government said today, while inflation in India is at a 3 1/2 year high.
Pakistan's consumer prices may jump as much as 9 percent in this fiscal year ending June 30, exceeding the target of 6.5 percent, the central bank estimates. Annual inflation may reach 12.5 percent, said JS Global's Rizvi.
Sharif, who leads the second-largest party in parliament, said today he will withdraw from the PPP-led government because of a dispute over sacked judges.
``Reinstating the judges was a condition for joining the coalition government,'' Sharif said, after meeting leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League in Islamabad. ``We will continue to support the PPP-led government on an issue to issue basis.''
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—The real test of leadership for Nawaz Sharif was the economy, not the judiciary. You need brains for the economy. Any one can play hooliganism and politics, which is what the so-called judicial ‘issue’ is all about.
Did you hear Nawaz Sharif even once mention the economy in his press conference Monday night when he announced he was ditching the coalition government?
Did he once in his recent media events offer any solutions?
He generally touched on “the problems that all of you know” and pretended that somehow the question of the reinstatement of a bunch of politicized judges was the real reason why all of us are facing economic problems.
Read these two brief, simple and brilliantly written reports on the Pakistani economy. They offer a balanced picture of the good and the bad. After reading them, you will notice how the two writers have more common sense than some of our leaders, unfortunately.
Investment Banking
Investors take long view on Pakistan economic turmoil
By: Mike Gallagher
Falling rupee coupled with high food and fuel prices in Pakistan causes concern for investors. World Bank says “painful adjustments” are necessary to overhaul economy.
Reports have emerged that some investors are pulling out of Pakistan as a depreciating rupee caused by a weakening dollar and political uncertainty is blunting investor appetite. The rupee has dived by nearly 9 per cent since the start of the year to a little under 70 rupees to the dollar. The Pakistani currency has fell by two rupees in just one day’s trading last week amid concerns over rising inflation, which is at a 13 year high and falling foreign investment. Pakistan’s low foreign exchange reserves means that the central bank could struggle to keep the rupee above the 70 to a dollar mark.
Pakistan is currently attempting to access a $500 million loan facility from the World Bank, which it hopes to have before the end of June, although some of the conditions that the World Bank might impose are reportedly making the Pakistani authorities.
The World Bank said in a statement that Pakistan would need to undergo "painful adjustments" if it was to be able to stave off the effects of high inflation which has been brought on by a combination of high oil
prices and soaring commodities costs.
World Bank vice president Praful Patel bluntly said that Pakistan had not yet reached crisis point, "but the economic picture for Pakistan is not good. Growth can only continue if Pakistan adjusts to the new global reality, which includes high prices for oil, commodities and foodstuffs such as wheat," he said.
This was echoed by the central bank. "We are not in a crisis like situation. Several measures are in place to remove macro-economic imbalances," Shamshad Akhtar, the State Bank of Pakistan Governor said. She also said that they would continue to support foreign exchange rate stability to “curb excessive short term fluctuation".
However, Patel said, “On the issue of food, Pakistan, I would say, is in an even more difficult situation that Bangladesh. They have a two million tonne deficit in the wheat harvest this year, so they need to import wheat at a time when it is simply not available and what is available is at a very high price.”
Meanwhile, a report on Pakistan’s Geo TV said that Pakistani real estate companies have been moving capital out of the country to the tune of at least $15 billion so far to invest in Gulf real estate.
One analyst said, “People who were stung by the credit crunch had been looking at Pakistan, even before the Bhutto assassination took place and while the political situation is becoming more stable, you need to look at what kinds of deals are taking place in the infrastructure market there. I think there are deals still happening, but it is hard to say accurately what is happening off the back of the current situation.”
All this comes at a time when several financial institutions from the GCC and South East Asia have announced they were moving into the troubled country to set up banks or insurance companies by teaming up with local entities or by going it alone. The likes of Al Baraka, Habib bank, Oman International Bank, Dubai Islamic Bank and most recently Maybank, have entered the country. Maybank said it was preparing to pay around $930 million to acquire a 20 per cent stake in MCB Bank.
In the summer of 2007, Qatar Islamic Bank, the fifth largest Islamic bank in the world and the largest Islamic bank in the Qatar, said it was planning to launch an Islamic bank in Pakistan with paid up capital of $100 million.
Ahmad Barghout, senior manager of the corporate investment and developments group at Qatar Islamic Bank speaking to CPI Financial said, “Both Pakistani and GCC companies are opportunity driven. There are opportunities in both areas and I think investors are taking the long term view.”
While the current economic and political instability in Pakistan is causing concern in some circles, Mansoor Khan, managing director of Lahore-based law firm Khan Associates told CPI Financial that conventional banks would probably be more affected by the turmoil than their Islamic counterparts.
“The conventional banks are western, risk-averse and do not understand ‘Pakistan risk.’ Islamic banks are primarily Middle Eastern or Asian and have a better understanding of the mentality of Pakistan. They will not be put off,” he said.
Source: CPIfinancial.net
Pakistan Inflation Accelerates to Fastest in 25 Years (Update3)
By Farhan Sharif
May 12 (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's inflation accelerated at the fastest pace in at least 25 years in April because of surging food and fuel prices, straining a six-week-old coalition government already on the brink of collapse.
Consumer prices jumped 17.21 percent from a year earlier after gaining 14.1 percent in March, the Federal Bureau of Statistics said in a statement in Islamabad today.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's party said it will quit the coalition led by the Pakistan Peoples Party tomorrow, hampering the government's ability to rein in prices. Dar said May 4 that oil and food prices are undermining the fight against poverty.
``If the trend continues, it will cause serious concerns to the new government,'' said Farhan Rizvi, an economist at JS Global Capital Ltd. in Karachi. ``Oil prices have added to already high food prices, which directly hit the masses.''
Oil at more than $125 a barrel and lower wheat output are straining state finances as food and fuel are subsidized in the nation of 160 million people. Hundreds of people queue for hours outside state-run shops to buy subsidized wheat flour and other essential goods across the nation.
Food prices in April rose 25.5 percent from a year earlier and fuel climbed 8.6 percent, according to the data. Inflation is the highest since at least June 1983, according to JS Capital. The statistics bureau doesn't have data preceding the year 2000.
Stocks, Currency
Pakistan's key stock index rose 0.4 percent to 14,286.61 after falling 4.9 percent last week, the biggest weekly decline in almost nine months. The rupee rose 1 percent against the dollar to 69, after losing 6.8 percent last week, the most since 1998. Inflation data was released after markets closed.
Almost half the population of Pakistan, the world's seventh- most-populous nation, faces difficulty gaining access to affordable food because of the soaring cost of cereals, a World Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said on April 23.
The Rome-based United Nations agency increased its estimate of the number of so-called food insecure people in Pakistan to 77 million from 60 million.
The nation may import more than 1.5 million metric tons of wheat this year to ease the shortage, farm minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali said on April 24.
The average price of pulses has risen about 50 percent since January, said Fareed Qureshi, chairman of the Karachi Retail Market Association. Average edible oil prices have climbed 16 percent since the start of the year and rice is 26 percent more costly than it was on Jan. 1, he said.
``Pakistan's prices of wheat, flour, edible oil and pulses are at a record now,'' Qureshi said.
Oil Bill
Pakistan, which imports about 85 percent of the oil it uses, increased prices of gasoline for the first time in more than 22 months on Feb. 29 after record crude prices increased import costs for the nation's refiners. Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority, the regulator, has since raised prices three more times.
The trade deficit widened to $2.3 billion in April from $1.1 billion because of the rising oil import bill, the Bureau of Statistics said on May 10.
The central bank increased its benchmark interest rate for a second straight meeting on Jan. 31 to tame inflation. The discount rate for commercial lenders was raised half a percentage point to 10.5 percent for the six months ending June 30. Inflation may exceed the government's target of 6.5 percent this year, curbing economic growth, the central bank said on March 31.
``The inflation is paced mainly by food and oil prices,'' said Suleman Akhtar, an economist at Foundation Securities in Karachi. ``In current conditions, a rise in interest rates would not do much.''
China, India
Rising commodity prices are also stoking inflation in neighboring India and China. Prices in China accelerated to near the fastest in more than 11 years, the government said today, while inflation in India is at a 3 1/2 year high.
Pakistan's consumer prices may jump as much as 9 percent in this fiscal year ending June 30, exceeding the target of 6.5 percent, the central bank estimates. Annual inflation may reach 12.5 percent, said JS Global's Rizvi.
Sharif, who leads the second-largest party in parliament, said today he will withdraw from the PPP-led government because of a dispute over sacked judges.
``Reinstating the judges was a condition for joining the coalition government,'' Sharif said, after meeting leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League in Islamabad. ``We will continue to support the PPP-led government on an issue to issue basis.''
Shaukat Tarin
President and CEO of Union Bank
President and CEO of Union Bank Shaukat Tarin: “We are ahead of the game in consumer banking products.”
As the President and Group CEO, please give us your introduction into Union Bank.
Union Bank is a private bank and is an institution that was licensed in the early 1990´s. But this group took over Union Bank in the year 2000, and over the last five years we have come a long way through our strategy of being a universal bank that provides banking solutions to a variety of customers. These are mainly in corporate and consumer banking, as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I think we have been quite successful. We have grown in the last five years and have also diversified. In addition, we have established international operations in Sri Lanka. Our strategy is in line with our success whereby we will become a premier bank in emerging markets.
What have been some of the main reasons behind the recent, dramatic improvement in your asset base?
If you consider our asset base of January 1 of the year 2000, it was only 14 billion rupees ($320 million) and we reached 67 billion ($1.53 billion) by 2003, which begs the question as to how did reached this size. The answer is that we had a clear strategy to gain size and diversity. In order to gain size we bought the franchise of Bank of America and Emirates Bank. Our purpose has been to become a universal bank. Our strategy today is to be well diversified. We have a premier network of branches and consumer, corporate, and SME lending.
All three pistons of our asset generation engine are working at the same time now. Presently we have in place the infrastructure, which includes technology and a large product menu supported by efficient staff. This was done in the first three years and now we really expect our balance to grow at a rate of 25% per annum for the next few years.
What factors led to your remarkable improvements in profits over recent years?
It is again the issue of diversity. If you look at the pressure on the banking spreads, you can see that it came about because of excess liquidity in the last two to three years starting in September 2001. We already had planned to diversify into consumer banking, as well as into the business of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Now, other banks are scrambling into consumer banking. Presently, we are offering consumer products in mortgage finance, auto financing, personal loans, and credit cards such as American Express.
So essentially we have a very well diversified consumer portfolio. We are probably one of the two banks (the other is PICIC which is also doing a good job), whose spreads are improving and the revenue from the balance sheet is improving significantly. That is giving us the profitability. We doubled our profits in 2004, and hopefully we will double profits again in 2005. This is possible because the momentum is with us; we have the volumes, the product menu, and the right people to make this happen.
Could you please elaborate on your statement, "Economic reforms are one of the reasons why the banking sector has been doing so well"?
I have seen the impact of the economy on the banking sector in the last couple of decades. I can tell you that when the economy was not doing well it was very difficult to improve the banking sector. I can say with confidence that it has been the success of the economy in the last three to four years that has provided the impetus for the success in the financial sector. This sector has improved dramatically because of the economy's strong performance.
As economy was doing well the government could allocate certain resources to the public sector banks and clean up their balance sheets the way they should have been, and then privatized them. That is one dimension of how a healthy economy can help. Secondly, as the country's GDP is growing nicely now, the corporate world is doing better. The consumer is now benefiting from the low inflation that has lowered interest rates dramatically. Therefore, the affordability of the consumer has improved. The profitability of the corporate sector has also improved because the finance costs have also gone down. Some of the products like auto finance and housing loans were simply not viable when I was at Citibank in the early nineties because of the 24% interest rates. With the lower interest rate environment of today, these products have become highly viable. And now people have started to use banks for these products and that has improved profitability.
You have stated that: "Union banks superior financial performance is the result of a strategic plan to invest in a diversified product portfolio in consumer, corporate banking, and the SME sector." Could you please tell us about your bank's success as the sole issuer of American Express, credit, charge, and corporate cards in Pakistan?
As we wanted to compete with the likes of Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank on the premier consumer side of the market, we had to have either a premier name that we did not have, or a premier brand to lift our bank name. So we bought the American Express franchise for the credit cards. We also had permissions to launch Visa and MasterCard but our strategy was to go into the top end with American Express to boost our banks brand name, then we would also expand our activity with Visa and MasterCard. We aggressively went after the American Express card acquisition and we succeeded in lifting the name of Union Bank. How successful have we been? I can tell you that in the 20 years of American Express in Pakistan, they had issued a little under 10,000 cards. Once we were involved, in the space of one year we have issued 120,000 cards. So this is how successful we have been and now we have also launched the Visa line. Our Visa success is going to be more pronounced because people know that it is from the same Union Bank that issues American Express cards.
In consumer credit you have also introduced the 'shopping card', which is Pakistan's first Visa Debit Card. What kind of potential do you anticipate in this market for Union Bank?
You know the total loan portfolio on the banking side is 1.35 trillion rupees ($30 billion) of which only 10% is in consumer banking. The rest is in corporate, agricultural, or some SME banking. So mortgages, auto finance, credit cards, personal loans are less than 10% of the total balance sheets of the banks. We have just scratched the surface of this huge market. Anybody who has the first mover advantage will go and capture a higher market share and be in a good position to defend it later on. This is what Union Bank has done and I think that many people were skeptical about our strategy in the. It meant spending a lot of money in technology, products, and the training of our people. Now we are in a position to capture a larger market share in each of these areas because the potential is immense.
We know that one of your products, which is particularly important for rural economic development, is the country's first agriculture credit card. Please comment on the impact of the "Kissan Card" which offers exclusive benefits for farmers purchasing crop inputs or fuel.
I think this is an important product for us because agriculture generates 25% of our GDP. It is really only the public sector banks that have been lending in this area in the past. Neither private sector nor foreign banks had even ventured into the agricultural area. We came up with the idea that we should give clean credit to a certain segment of the agriculture sector that is anybody with holdings of 8 acres to 35 acres of land. This segment could be described as lower to middle class farmers. First we would finance their inputs and then as they would build up their credit history, we could start giving them the working capital for other uses. We will treat these customers just as we treat credit card holders in the urban areas. The first step was to establish credit history and financial behavior in these rural areas. We believe that our first trial will be anywhere between 5,000 to 8,000 credit cards in the first year. This is going on quite well and hopefully by the end of next year, we will have a mass launch of this product throughout Pakistan.
Could you comment on your Tana Bana product, and the advantages it offers?
This is another key initiative for Union Bank. Today, SME banking is being done just like corporate banking. Banks divide their customers with amounts less than 50 million rupees ($1.1 million) as SME and anything over that amount as corporate. Union Bank is the first bank which is shifting the paradigm in this respect. What we are saying is that we will also tackle the SME sector on a programmed basis. Each SME industry for us will be a business segment. It will have its own research and its distinct credit criteria. Tana Bana product in textile is just one illustration of this strategy. We are going after vendor financing and electronic finance facilities for retailers and wholesalers of electronic products. This is being done on a programmed basis and is going to change the way SME banking is being done in Pakistan.
Pakistan's real estate sector has also been booming and the construction industry has been given top priority by the administration of President Musharraf. What has been Union Bank's contribution home financing?
We have the largest portfolio in this area. Union Bank provides money to buy, build, and renovate homes and also lends money against existing homes. We are active in all four of these areas and now what we have started doing is to go after developer finance. In Pakistan, if we do not encourage large-scale developers, the stock will run out and you will see inflation in the housing sector. Today there is a dearth of good developers in this country. So Union Bank has set up a division today that is doing Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the leading developers of the world. We are going to help these developers develop large housing projects and then provide end user financing for the consumer. In a nutshell, Union Bank will be a major player in the housing industry in Pakistan.
What are your expectations for innovative value added products in the years ahead?
First of all we are a bank that is online, real time at all of our branches. At the end of the year we will have 55 branches, in all provinces of Pakistan. They will all be online real-time branches. We also have a state of the art call center. We have introduced Internet banking and have launched a unique debit card which we call the "shopping card". It is an internationally accepted debit card and it is linked to all of your accounts. You can have your current account, savings account, and personal loan account linked to it and can access them overseas through the Visa network. We are the only bank in Pakistan that is offering this service to our customers.
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Could you discuss recent acquisitions and your plans to offer your products and services in other countries?
Wherever we go, we will be a premier bank offering its customers innovative products to its customers. We are going to go mostly to emerging markets because that is where opportunity lies. I don't think we should go and compete with the best banks in the U.S. and in Europe because our strength will be in the emerging markets of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, or Eastern Europe. So first we will go to these emerging markets and will try to replicate what we are doing here in Pakistan.
Could you comment on any lessons you learned from your experience at Habib Bank that will help you now as President of Union Bank?
Well prior to that I had 22 years of experience at Citibank and was requested by the government, to come and rescue Habib Bank. It was a totally different kind of experience. Everything that could go wrong with a bank, was going wrong, and, frankly, if it were a bank in a developed country, it would have been shut down a long time ago. What we did over there was to take about 35 good bankers. We made them consultants and then picked up the threads. We said to ourselves: "Here we are, we have a deficit of 27.5 billion rupees ($630 million) in the balance sheet. Revenues are four billion ($92 million) and expenses are 10.5 billion rupees ($240 million) a year, but lets prioritize." To start with we wanted to deal with our infected loan portfolio, as 58% of our loans infected in Pakistan, and 70% internationally.
We fixed the credit process by employing good people, training them, and putting them on a mission to go out and book good loans. This was not rocket science! We went into the market and got some good loans by making our rates competitive. These loans even after five or six years, do not have even 1% in non performing. Then we tackled the liability side and reduced the cost of the funds by increasing the saving deposits through marketing and new products. These two things helped us and in three years time, our revenues exceeded our expenses. We kept our costs flat by re-structuring our workforce and letting 33% of it go, closing loss making branches, and cutting out layers in the organization. All of this was a great experience but, at times, scary. In a developing country, these public sector institutions give power to government and government servants. It was very difficult to stand up to all the pressures in order to steer the bank towards profitability. I would say that it was my national service and I am proud of it.
What is your vision for the future of Union Bank, and the image you would like to project as a financial partner for Pakistan's many investment opportunities?
Union Bank is going to be a premier bank for our customers that will focus on providing innovative products, backed up with very good service. We are going to be a universal bank which means that for us corporate banking, consumer banking, and SME banking will be important not only in Pakistan, but also internationally in emerging markets. We want business people to know about Union Bank. Over the last five years we have done extremely well and have grown 600%. We also intend to be a significant player not only in Pakistan, but also in the emerging markets.
What have been some of your biggest personal and professional achievements during your distinguished career?
Citibank was where I learned all about banking and my experiences there laid the foundations for my career. During my experience in Citibank, it was the building of businesses that I was very proud of. I built up the consumer banking business in the Gulf and then went on to start consumer banking activities in Pakistan. In both of these places the consumer banking businesses are doing very well. Then of course, during the very turbulent times in the mid 1990s, I ensured that we retained our market share in Thailand.
In summary, building businesses in Citibank, turning around Habib Bank, and almost building Union Bank from scratch to make it one of the top ten banks in Pakistan within five years, have been of great satisfaction to me.
President and CEO of Union Bank
President and CEO of Union Bank Shaukat Tarin: “We are ahead of the game in consumer banking products.”
As the President and Group CEO, please give us your introduction into Union Bank.
Union Bank is a private bank and is an institution that was licensed in the early 1990´s. But this group took over Union Bank in the year 2000, and over the last five years we have come a long way through our strategy of being a universal bank that provides banking solutions to a variety of customers. These are mainly in corporate and consumer banking, as well as small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). I think we have been quite successful. We have grown in the last five years and have also diversified. In addition, we have established international operations in Sri Lanka. Our strategy is in line with our success whereby we will become a premier bank in emerging markets.
What have been some of the main reasons behind the recent, dramatic improvement in your asset base?
If you consider our asset base of January 1 of the year 2000, it was only 14 billion rupees ($320 million) and we reached 67 billion ($1.53 billion) by 2003, which begs the question as to how did reached this size. The answer is that we had a clear strategy to gain size and diversity. In order to gain size we bought the franchise of Bank of America and Emirates Bank. Our purpose has been to become a universal bank. Our strategy today is to be well diversified. We have a premier network of branches and consumer, corporate, and SME lending.
All three pistons of our asset generation engine are working at the same time now. Presently we have in place the infrastructure, which includes technology and a large product menu supported by efficient staff. This was done in the first three years and now we really expect our balance to grow at a rate of 25% per annum for the next few years.
What factors led to your remarkable improvements in profits over recent years?
It is again the issue of diversity. If you look at the pressure on the banking spreads, you can see that it came about because of excess liquidity in the last two to three years starting in September 2001. We already had planned to diversify into consumer banking, as well as into the business of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Now, other banks are scrambling into consumer banking. Presently, we are offering consumer products in mortgage finance, auto financing, personal loans, and credit cards such as American Express.
So essentially we have a very well diversified consumer portfolio. We are probably one of the two banks (the other is PICIC which is also doing a good job), whose spreads are improving and the revenue from the balance sheet is improving significantly. That is giving us the profitability. We doubled our profits in 2004, and hopefully we will double profits again in 2005. This is possible because the momentum is with us; we have the volumes, the product menu, and the right people to make this happen.
Could you please elaborate on your statement, "Economic reforms are one of the reasons why the banking sector has been doing so well"?
I have seen the impact of the economy on the banking sector in the last couple of decades. I can tell you that when the economy was not doing well it was very difficult to improve the banking sector. I can say with confidence that it has been the success of the economy in the last three to four years that has provided the impetus for the success in the financial sector. This sector has improved dramatically because of the economy's strong performance.
As economy was doing well the government could allocate certain resources to the public sector banks and clean up their balance sheets the way they should have been, and then privatized them. That is one dimension of how a healthy economy can help. Secondly, as the country's GDP is growing nicely now, the corporate world is doing better. The consumer is now benefiting from the low inflation that has lowered interest rates dramatically. Therefore, the affordability of the consumer has improved. The profitability of the corporate sector has also improved because the finance costs have also gone down. Some of the products like auto finance and housing loans were simply not viable when I was at Citibank in the early nineties because of the 24% interest rates. With the lower interest rate environment of today, these products have become highly viable. And now people have started to use banks for these products and that has improved profitability.
You have stated that: "Union banks superior financial performance is the result of a strategic plan to invest in a diversified product portfolio in consumer, corporate banking, and the SME sector." Could you please tell us about your bank's success as the sole issuer of American Express, credit, charge, and corporate cards in Pakistan?
As we wanted to compete with the likes of Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank on the premier consumer side of the market, we had to have either a premier name that we did not have, or a premier brand to lift our bank name. So we bought the American Express franchise for the credit cards. We also had permissions to launch Visa and MasterCard but our strategy was to go into the top end with American Express to boost our banks brand name, then we would also expand our activity with Visa and MasterCard. We aggressively went after the American Express card acquisition and we succeeded in lifting the name of Union Bank. How successful have we been? I can tell you that in the 20 years of American Express in Pakistan, they had issued a little under 10,000 cards. Once we were involved, in the space of one year we have issued 120,000 cards. So this is how successful we have been and now we have also launched the Visa line. Our Visa success is going to be more pronounced because people know that it is from the same Union Bank that issues American Express cards.
In consumer credit you have also introduced the 'shopping card', which is Pakistan's first Visa Debit Card. What kind of potential do you anticipate in this market for Union Bank?
You know the total loan portfolio on the banking side is 1.35 trillion rupees ($30 billion) of which only 10% is in consumer banking. The rest is in corporate, agricultural, or some SME banking. So mortgages, auto finance, credit cards, personal loans are less than 10% of the total balance sheets of the banks. We have just scratched the surface of this huge market. Anybody who has the first mover advantage will go and capture a higher market share and be in a good position to defend it later on. This is what Union Bank has done and I think that many people were skeptical about our strategy in the. It meant spending a lot of money in technology, products, and the training of our people. Now we are in a position to capture a larger market share in each of these areas because the potential is immense.
We know that one of your products, which is particularly important for rural economic development, is the country's first agriculture credit card. Please comment on the impact of the "Kissan Card" which offers exclusive benefits for farmers purchasing crop inputs or fuel.
I think this is an important product for us because agriculture generates 25% of our GDP. It is really only the public sector banks that have been lending in this area in the past. Neither private sector nor foreign banks had even ventured into the agricultural area. We came up with the idea that we should give clean credit to a certain segment of the agriculture sector that is anybody with holdings of 8 acres to 35 acres of land. This segment could be described as lower to middle class farmers. First we would finance their inputs and then as they would build up their credit history, we could start giving them the working capital for other uses. We will treat these customers just as we treat credit card holders in the urban areas. The first step was to establish credit history and financial behavior in these rural areas. We believe that our first trial will be anywhere between 5,000 to 8,000 credit cards in the first year. This is going on quite well and hopefully by the end of next year, we will have a mass launch of this product throughout Pakistan.
Could you comment on your Tana Bana product, and the advantages it offers?
This is another key initiative for Union Bank. Today, SME banking is being done just like corporate banking. Banks divide their customers with amounts less than 50 million rupees ($1.1 million) as SME and anything over that amount as corporate. Union Bank is the first bank which is shifting the paradigm in this respect. What we are saying is that we will also tackle the SME sector on a programmed basis. Each SME industry for us will be a business segment. It will have its own research and its distinct credit criteria. Tana Bana product in textile is just one illustration of this strategy. We are going after vendor financing and electronic finance facilities for retailers and wholesalers of electronic products. This is being done on a programmed basis and is going to change the way SME banking is being done in Pakistan.
Pakistan's real estate sector has also been booming and the construction industry has been given top priority by the administration of President Musharraf. What has been Union Bank's contribution home financing?
We have the largest portfolio in this area. Union Bank provides money to buy, build, and renovate homes and also lends money against existing homes. We are active in all four of these areas and now what we have started doing is to go after developer finance. In Pakistan, if we do not encourage large-scale developers, the stock will run out and you will see inflation in the housing sector. Today there is a dearth of good developers in this country. So Union Bank has set up a division today that is doing Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with the leading developers of the world. We are going to help these developers develop large housing projects and then provide end user financing for the consumer. In a nutshell, Union Bank will be a major player in the housing industry in Pakistan.
What are your expectations for innovative value added products in the years ahead?
First of all we are a bank that is online, real time at all of our branches. At the end of the year we will have 55 branches, in all provinces of Pakistan. They will all be online real-time branches. We also have a state of the art call center. We have introduced Internet banking and have launched a unique debit card which we call the "shopping card". It is an internationally accepted debit card and it is linked to all of your accounts. You can have your current account, savings account, and personal loan account linked to it and can access them overseas through the Visa network. We are the only bank in Pakistan that is offering this service to our customers.
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Could you discuss recent acquisitions and your plans to offer your products and services in other countries?
Wherever we go, we will be a premier bank offering its customers innovative products to its customers. We are going to go mostly to emerging markets because that is where opportunity lies. I don't think we should go and compete with the best banks in the U.S. and in Europe because our strength will be in the emerging markets of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, or Eastern Europe. So first we will go to these emerging markets and will try to replicate what we are doing here in Pakistan.
Could you comment on any lessons you learned from your experience at Habib Bank that will help you now as President of Union Bank?
Well prior to that I had 22 years of experience at Citibank and was requested by the government, to come and rescue Habib Bank. It was a totally different kind of experience. Everything that could go wrong with a bank, was going wrong, and, frankly, if it were a bank in a developed country, it would have been shut down a long time ago. What we did over there was to take about 35 good bankers. We made them consultants and then picked up the threads. We said to ourselves: "Here we are, we have a deficit of 27.5 billion rupees ($630 million) in the balance sheet. Revenues are four billion ($92 million) and expenses are 10.5 billion rupees ($240 million) a year, but lets prioritize." To start with we wanted to deal with our infected loan portfolio, as 58% of our loans infected in Pakistan, and 70% internationally.
We fixed the credit process by employing good people, training them, and putting them on a mission to go out and book good loans. This was not rocket science! We went into the market and got some good loans by making our rates competitive. These loans even after five or six years, do not have even 1% in non performing. Then we tackled the liability side and reduced the cost of the funds by increasing the saving deposits through marketing and new products. These two things helped us and in three years time, our revenues exceeded our expenses. We kept our costs flat by re-structuring our workforce and letting 33% of it go, closing loss making branches, and cutting out layers in the organization. All of this was a great experience but, at times, scary. In a developing country, these public sector institutions give power to government and government servants. It was very difficult to stand up to all the pressures in order to steer the bank towards profitability. I would say that it was my national service and I am proud of it.
What is your vision for the future of Union Bank, and the image you would like to project as a financial partner for Pakistan's many investment opportunities?
Union Bank is going to be a premier bank for our customers that will focus on providing innovative products, backed up with very good service. We are going to be a universal bank which means that for us corporate banking, consumer banking, and SME banking will be important not only in Pakistan, but also internationally in emerging markets. We want business people to know about Union Bank. Over the last five years we have done extremely well and have grown 600%. We also intend to be a significant player not only in Pakistan, but also in the emerging markets.
What have been some of your biggest personal and professional achievements during your distinguished career?
Citibank was where I learned all about banking and my experiences there laid the foundations for my career. During my experience in Citibank, it was the building of businesses that I was very proud of. I built up the consumer banking business in the Gulf and then went on to start consumer banking activities in Pakistan. In both of these places the consumer banking businesses are doing very well. Then of course, during the very turbulent times in the mid 1990s, I ensured that we retained our market share in Thailand.
In summary, building businesses in Citibank, turning around Habib Bank, and almost building Union Bank from scratch to make it one of the top ten banks in Pakistan within five years, have been of great satisfaction to me.
(Old article) Lure of Pakistan banks overcomes riot fears
Pakistan’s political turmoil has failed to deter investors from pursuing the country’s fast-growing banking sector.
“The growth in the banking sector appears to have still outpaced political uncertainty,” said Muhammad Suhail, of Karachi’s Jehangir Siddiqui Brokerage house.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Maybank leads BII stake race - Mar-07Temasek Holdings to sell BII stake - Feb-26Li settles insider trading allegations - Feb-05Kookmin eyes Kazakh bank stake - Jan-30Seven Bank to brave market turmoil with IPO - Jan-22Lex: Asian investment banking - Dec-03In the latest deal, Saudi Pak Commercial Bank (SPCB) is due to be bought in a $200m deal.
Pakistan witnessed widespread turmoil last week after the assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. At least 176 bank branches were destroyed by protesters, prompting fears about a run on withdrawals.
Investors’ interest in SPCB comes more than 10 years after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif ordered the sacking of up to 20,000 employees, mainly from the three large public sector banks, to begin an ambitious reform process.
Today, of those banks, only one – National Bank of Pakistan – remains in the public sector. The other two, Habib Bank and United Bank, have been privatised.
In the year to last June, Pakistan’s banks increased net profits at least 60 per cent, according to a central bank official.
Monday’s deal in which a consortium of financial institutions including Bank Muscat, International Finance Corporation, the business arm of the World Bank, and Nomura International were involvedwas led by Shaukat Tarin. Mr Tarin, one of Pakistan’s most experienced international bankers, was appointed to head Habib Bank in 1997 to oversee its reforms from being a bank saddled with bad debt to a situation where it began setting aside funds to provide for writing off liabilities. Mr Tarin’s next major success after Habib Bank came when he took charge of the privately owned Union Bank.
The latest development follows a spate of purchases by overseas banks looking to expand in Pakistan.
Standard Chartered in 2006 became the first international bank to enter the country since the sector went through the 1997 reforms, paying $487m for Union Bank.
In December 2006 a subsidiary of Singapore’s state-owned Temasek Holdings said it would buy a controlling stake in Pakistan Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation Bank.
Then, in March last year, ABN Amro – the Dutch bank that has since been bought by a consortium of Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Fortis – followed suit, buying the privately owned Prime Bank for $225m in a move that has made ABN a household name in urban Pakistan.
“Even if the political risk is there, I have faith in the future of Pakistan. There are plenty of opportunities in this country,” Mr Tarin told the Financial Times.
“Even in the midst of turmoil, people need banks.”
Other pundits, such as Nasir Ali Shah Bukhari, chairman of the Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari business group, which owns the KASC commercial bank, said: “The growth of banks has been inspired by the expansion of many more functions than before.
“Now, with the growth of credit cards and online banking, banks have become much more fundamental to life than simply being deposit takers or lenders.”
Mr Suhail said foreign banks were pursuing a strategy of growth by acquisition because of the difficulty of recruiting local talent.
Can't the govt. bring in someone in the class of Dr. Mahboob-ul-Haq to take the finance ministry portfolio?
Excellent news ! Though NS is not going to be happy if this happens. He has a long history with Tareen going back to the days when Saifur Rehman accused him of corruption n all leading to his resignation as President of Habib Bank. (Some people think that Tareen was trying to clear up the mess at Habib Bank by downsizing and going after the huge loans but little details have emerged about this.)
Does anybody know about his profile in detail ? Educational qualifications, posts held - specially the early part of his career , etc
I know that he graduated from IBA around 1967 but not what he graduated in ... plus does he have any additional degrees/qualifications
Head of CitiBank Pakistan (years ?? )
President of Habib Bank
President of Union Bank
Chairman Karachi Stock Exchange
C.E.O SaudiPak Bank
On a side note Zubyr Soomro would also make an excellent choice.
Does anybody know about his profile in detail ? Educational qualifications, posts held - specially the early part of his career , etc
I know that he graduated from IBA around 1967 but not what he graduated in ... plus does he have any additional degrees/qualifications
Head of CitiBank Pakistan (years ?? )
President of Habib Bank
President of Union Bank
Chairman Karachi Stock Exchange
C.E.O SaudiPak Bank
On a side note Zubyr Soomro would also make an excellent choice.
Saira, whats your take on Salman Shah, I always respected the fact that unlike everyone else he always showed up with his homework for any interview with his facts, figures and other critical data on hand.
Tarin's history with Musharaf & pervious setup
http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/AKRP...?nProgramId=333
and he is also PPP's man, who has been named many times for various key positions under PPP led govt's of the 90s.
If this appointment comes through, than whether or not Zardari & Musharaf are in the same camp may remain debatable, but neither is anywhere close to NS camp.
http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk/AKRP...?nProgramId=333
and he is also PPP's man, who has been named many times for various key positions under PPP led govt's of the 90s.
If this appointment comes through, than whether or not Zardari & Musharaf are in the same camp may remain debatable, but neither is anywhere close to NS camp.
QUOTE(instantexcess @ May 13 2008, 01:56 AM) 
Saira, whats your take on Salman Shah, I always respected the fact that unlike everyone else he always showed up with his homework for any interview with his facts, figures and other critical data on hand.
I am biased as far as Salman Shah is concerned since we share the same alma matter
He is extremely intelligent and is better suited then Tareen/Soomro/Aziz to be the finance minister because he has a degree in economics unlike these guys who though excellent professionals have MBAs (little to do with economics) . The one thing I dont like about the parliamentary system is that one has to stick with dumb folks for ministers. I think the Presidential system like the one in the US where the best man suited for the job is tapped irrespective of political stature works much better. Imagine having a cabinet which looked something like this Secretary of Finance - Salman Shah
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
Secretary of Privatization and Investment - Fred Hassan (CEO of Schering-Plough)
Secretary of Health - Adnan Hyder (Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, PhD, MD, MPH)
something like the (99-02 era) etc ...
I would not care if AZ or another goon was PM as long as we had competent people heading the important departments.
QUOTE(Saira @ May 13 2008, 02:20 AM)
I am biased as far as Salman Shah is concerned since we share the same alma matter He is extremely intelligent and is better suited then Tareen/Soomro/Aziz to be the finance minister because he has a degree in economics unlike these guys who though excellent professionals have MBAs (little to do with economics) . The one thing I dont like about the parliamentary system is that one has to stick with dumb folks for ministers. I think the Presidential system like the one in the US where the best man suited for the job is tapped irrespective of political stature works much better. Imagine having a cabinet which looked something like this
Secretary of Finance - Salman Shah
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
something like the (99-02 era)
etc ...
I would not care if AZ or another goon was PM as long as we had competent people heading the important departments.
He is extremely intelligent and is better suited then Tareen/Soomro/Aziz to be the finance minister because he has a degree in economics unlike these guys who though excellent professionals have MBAs (little to do with economics) . The one thing I dont like about the parliamentary system is that one has to stick with dumb folks for ministers. I think the Presidential system like the one in the US where the best man suited for the job is tapped irrespective of political stature works much better. Imagine having a cabinet which looked something like this Secretary of Finance - Salman Shah
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
something like the (99-02 era) etc ...
I would not care if AZ or another goon was PM as long as we had competent people heading the important departments.
Saira, I am glad you chose Adil Najam. I personally think the guy is genius. For the record he did once mentioned that in his opinion he would chose BB as the PM over NS (if NS and BB are the only given choice) because NS is dangerous for the democracy in Pakistan and has a dictatorial ideology. Though he thinks that both are bad for Pakistan in general. What do you think of Javed Jabbar as either minister for information or foreign affairs?
You surprise me Sara. These are just the men I would have chosen. Tarin is a good choice as well.
Hopefully the cabinet will look better in the near future...let's just hope Zardari becomes a powerless figurehead so that the cabinet could work successfully.
Secretary of Finance - Salman Shah
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
Secretary of Privatization and Investment - Fred Hassan (CEO of Schering-Plough)
Secretary of Health - Adnan Hyder (Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, PhD, MD, MPH)
Saira : Your dream team is an excellent choice.
It is one of those rare moments, where in I must respect your proposal.
Indeed you have chosen professionals and this is what the most important thing to do, in this era of extreme urgency towards our economic revival.
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
Secretary of Privatization and Investment - Fred Hassan (CEO of Schering-Plough)
Secretary of Health - Adnan Hyder (Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, PhD, MD, MPH)
Saira : Your dream team is an excellent choice.
It is one of those rare moments, where in I must respect your proposal.
Indeed you have chosen professionals and this is what the most important thing to do, in this era of extreme urgency towards our economic revival.
Atta rehman top bloke
Wow, unity on PDF on politics, what a surprise 
QUOTE(Saira @ May 13 2008, 01:20 AM)
I am biased as far as Salman Shah is concerned since we share the same alma matter He is extremely intelligent and is better suited then Tareen/Soomro/Aziz to be the finance minister because he has a degree in economics unlike these guys who though excellent professionals have MBAs (little to do with economics) . The one thing I dont like about the parliamentary system is that one has to stick with dumb folks for ministers. I think the Presidential system like the one in the US where the best man suited for the job is tapped irrespective of political stature works much better. Imagine having a cabinet which looked something like this
Secretary of Finance - Salman Shah
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
Secretary of Privatization and Investment - Fred Hassan (CEO of Schering-Plough)
Secretary of Health - Adnan Hyder (Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, PhD, MD, MPH)
something like the (99-02 era)
etc ...
I would not care if AZ or another goon was PM as long as we had competent people heading the important departments.
He is extremely intelligent and is better suited then Tareen/Soomro/Aziz to be the finance minister because he has a degree in economics unlike these guys who though excellent professionals have MBAs (little to do with economics) . The one thing I dont like about the parliamentary system is that one has to stick with dumb folks for ministers. I think the Presidential system like the one in the US where the best man suited for the job is tapped irrespective of political stature works much better. Imagine having a cabinet which looked something like this Secretary of Finance - Salman Shah
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
Secretary of Privatization and Investment - Fred Hassan (CEO of Schering-Plough)
Secretary of Health - Adnan Hyder (Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, PhD, MD, MPH)
something like the (99-02 era) etc ...
I would not care if AZ or another goon was PM as long as we had competent people heading the important departments.
You must be joking right? Under the US system the top 5000-10,000 beuracrats are chosen by the president himself based on there political ideals and view and wheather or not there aligned to the presidents party.
Just another reason why people should look up to master US instead of reforming the current system
QUOTE(lein303 @ May 13 2008, 02:03 PM)
You must be joking right? Under the US system the top 5000-10,000 beuracrats are chosen by the president himself based on there political ideals and view and wheather or not there aligned to the presidents party.
Just another reason why people should look up to master US instead of reforming the current system
Just another reason why people should look up to master US instead of reforming the current system
Besides destroying a perfectly good discussion you have little else to add. 5000-10,000 bureaucrats vs 300 odd elected politicians ? Of course they will pick people who are aligned with their ideology, DHA ! Why would a pro life President pick a pro choice attorney general ? Loyalty and adherence to specific political and social ideals is a key in any cabinet appointment. This is distinct from having to choose from the the lower house which in Pakistan's case is mostly made up of land owning feudals who have hardly every held a real job. Dont go around accusing people if you cannot connect the dots.
"United States Cabinet nominees are chosen from a large pool of potential candidates. One of the few qualification restrictions is set out in Article One of the Constitution: "no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in office." Accordingly, a sitting member of the United States Congress must resign his seat before accepting a Cabinet appointment. Likewise, a governor appointed to a cabinet position must also resign his or her seat. This constitutional separation between the executive and the legislative branches is distinct from the British parliamentary cabinet system, where a cabinet appointee as a rule must first be a member of the legislature, and continues in both positions."
Dont waste my time my replying to this.
I also think Shaukat can handle international financial affairs very well. While making him the PM was an overkill, but he is a high-profile indivisual, who can continue to benefit the state even from outside of the PM office.
There was one more guy featured in the "Geo Awami Budget" debate, there was one guy from the agricultural sector, he seemed to have an excellent idea of what he was talking about.
If anyone can recall the name than that would be great help.
And I am in agreement with Saira's list, question is ... can our politicians bring the best canidiates ahead of their ability to lick various behinds
There was one more guy featured in the "Geo Awami Budget" debate, there was one guy from the agricultural sector, he seemed to have an excellent idea of what he was talking about.
If anyone can recall the name than that would be great help.
And I am in agreement with Saira's list, question is ... can our politicians bring the best canidiates ahead of their ability to lick various behinds
Tarin is a capable man with excellent professional creationals and inshallah will do a great job. I am very pleased.
QUOTE(Saira @ May 13 2008, 08:20 AM)
I am biased as far as Salman Shah is concerned since we share the same alma matter He is extremely intelligent and is better suited then Tareen/Soomro/Aziz to be the finance minister because he has a degree in economics unlike these guys who though excellent professionals have MBAs (little to do with economics) . The one thing I dont like about the parliamentary system is that one has to stick with dumb folks for ministers. I think the Presidential system like the one in the US where the best man suited for the job is tapped irrespective of political stature works much better. Imagine having a cabinet which looked something like this
Secretary of Finance - Salman Shah
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
Secretary of Privatization and Investment - Fred Hassan (CEO of Schering-Plough)
Secretary of Health - Adnan Hyder (Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, PhD, MD, MPH)
something like the (99-02 era)
etc ...
I would not care if AZ or another goon was PM as long as we had competent people heading the important departments.
He is extremely intelligent and is better suited then Tareen/Soomro/Aziz to be the finance minister because he has a degree in economics unlike these guys who though excellent professionals have MBAs (little to do with economics) . The one thing I dont like about the parliamentary system is that one has to stick with dumb folks for ministers. I think the Presidential system like the one in the US where the best man suited for the job is tapped irrespective of political stature works much better. Imagine having a cabinet which looked something like this Secretary of Finance - Salman Shah
Secretary of Development, Public Works and Education - Imran Khan
Secretary of Commerce - Zubayr Soomro
Secretary of Technology and Science - Adil Najam
Secretary of Privatization and Investment - Fred Hassan (CEO of Schering-Plough)
Secretary of Health - Adnan Hyder (Professor at John Hopkins School of Medicine, PhD, MD, MPH)
something like the (99-02 era) etc ...
I would not care if AZ or another goon was PM as long as we had competent people heading the important departments.
Great choices there sis, we should start off a movement called the “magnificent six” and bring these guys into these positions.
Hmm, the guy seems to be capable i just wish him the best of luck!
Funny thing, i initially read this as Shaukat Aziz.... lol....
Funny thing, i initially read this as Shaukat Aziz.... lol....
Hmm, the guy seems to be capable i just wish him the best of luck!
Funny thing, i initially read this as Shaukat Aziz.... lol....
Plati .. Shaukat Aziz has enourmous influence on Price Waleed (the owner of CITIBANK) as the say SA was the guy who led Prince Waleed to invest on the first place in CITIBANK & Daewoo .. due to which our present govt. officials should stay in touch with Shaukat Aziz as he did a great job for us previously and his expertise and connections should be utilized to get more corporate deals on fast track basis.
Funny thing, i initially read this as Shaukat Aziz.... lol....
Plati .. Shaukat Aziz has enourmous influence on Price Waleed (the owner of CITIBANK) as the say SA was the guy who led Prince Waleed to invest on the first place in CITIBANK & Daewoo .. due to which our present govt. officials should stay in touch with Shaukat Aziz as he did a great job for us previously and his expertise and connections should be utilized to get more corporate deals on fast track basis.
Humayun Khan to be new Finance Minister: Rahimdad Khan
PESHAWAR, May 14 (APP): NWFP Senior Minister Rahimdad Khan Wednesday said that the provincial ministers Mahmood Zeb and Humayun Khan have been assigned the portfolios of Technical Education and Finance respectively, while the SHYDO, Planning and Development Departments would remain with him.
He said a notification in this regard would be issued in a day or two, says a handout issued here. This he said while talking to members of different delegations from Malakand, Timergara and Dir at his office here today.
The Senior Minister said that an elected government, having the confidence of the people couldn’t be un-aware of people’s problems. He said the government would take all possible steps for the development of far-flung and backwards areas and prosperity of their people.
On this occasion, he listened the problems of the members of the delegations about their respective areas and assured them to try his level best for their solution.
PESHAWAR, May 14 (APP): NWFP Senior Minister Rahimdad Khan Wednesday said that the provincial ministers Mahmood Zeb and Humayun Khan have been assigned the portfolios of Technical Education and Finance respectively, while the SHYDO, Planning and Development Departments would remain with him.
He said a notification in this regard would be issued in a day or two, says a handout issued here. This he said while talking to members of different delegations from Malakand, Timergara and Dir at his office here today.
The Senior Minister said that an elected government, having the confidence of the people couldn’t be un-aware of people’s problems. He said the government would take all possible steps for the development of far-flung and backwards areas and prosperity of their people.
On this occasion, he listened the problems of the members of the delegations about their respective areas and assured them to try his level best for their solution.
QUOTE(OmaR UK @ May 14 2008, 06:21 PM)
Humayun Khan to be new Finance Minister: Rahimdad Khan
PESHAWAR, May 14 (APP): NWFP Senior Minister Rahimdad Khan Wednesday said that the provincial ministers Mahmood Zeb and Humayun Khan have been assigned the portfolios of Technical Education and Finance respectively, while the SHYDO, Planning and Development Departments would remain with him.
He said a notification in this regard would be issued in a day or two, says a handout issued here. This he said while talking to members of different delegations from Malakand, Timergara and Dir at his office here today.
The Senior Minister said that an elected government, having the confidence of the people couldn’t be un-aware of people’s problems. He said the government would take all possible steps for the development of far-flung and backwards areas and prosperity of their people.
On this occasion, he listened the problems of the members of the delegations about their respective areas and assured them to try his level best for their solution.
PESHAWAR, May 14 (APP): NWFP Senior Minister Rahimdad Khan Wednesday said that the provincial ministers Mahmood Zeb and Humayun Khan have been assigned the portfolios of Technical Education and Finance respectively, while the SHYDO, Planning and Development Departments would remain with him.
He said a notification in this regard would be issued in a day or two, says a handout issued here. This he said while talking to members of different delegations from Malakand, Timergara and Dir at his office here today.
The Senior Minister said that an elected government, having the confidence of the people couldn’t be un-aware of people’s problems. He said the government would take all possible steps for the development of far-flung and backwards areas and prosperity of their people.
On this occasion, he listened the problems of the members of the delegations about their respective areas and assured them to try his level best for their solution.
Is he talking about Humayun Akhter Khan, the previous commerce minister ? He is aligned with PML-Q and lost the previous elections. How does he fit into all this.
What exactly happened to Ishaq Dar? I haven't been keeping up with Pakistani politics.
Humayun made new NWFP finance minister
PESHAWAR (May 15 2008): NWFP provincial ministers, Mohammad Hamayun Khan and Mahmood Zeb Khan of PPP, were on Wednesday allotted the portfolios of finance and technical education, respectively. The portfolios of both ministers were allotted to Pervez Khattak and Habib-ur-Rehman Tanoli.
Khattak was provincial president of PPP-Sherpao and elected on the ticket of his respective political party while Habib-ur-Tanoli, another office bearers of the same political party was elected as independent candidate to the provincial assembly.
Hamayun Khan, a former district nazim Malakand is the son of the founding leader of PPP, Mohammad Hanif Khan, a former federal minister in 1988-190 while Mahmood Zeb Khan was elected from District Dir Lower on the party ticket.
The portfolio of finance was earlier with Senior Minister Rahimdad Khan, who will also holds the portfolio of Shydo, Planning and Development Departments, The notification would be issued within two days.
Naveed given additional charge of Finance
KARACHI (May 15 2008): Pakistan People's Party has decided to give additional charge of Finance Ministry to Syed Naveed Qamar, Aaj TV reported. According to TV channel, this was decided in a PPP Central Executive Committee and Federal Council meeting held in Islamabad on Wednesday.
PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari reiterated that the PPP would not quit Punjab government and all the deposed judges would be restored. However, the co-chairman said that it might take some time to settle modalities. The TV channel claimed that Pakistan People's Party had also decided to replace Governor Punjab Khalid Maqbool with Salman Taseer.
PESHAWAR (May 15 2008): NWFP provincial ministers, Mohammad Hamayun Khan and Mahmood Zeb Khan of PPP, were on Wednesday allotted the portfolios of finance and technical education, respectively. The portfolios of both ministers were allotted to Pervez Khattak and Habib-ur-Rehman Tanoli.
Khattak was provincial president of PPP-Sherpao and elected on the ticket of his respective political party while Habib-ur-Tanoli, another office bearers of the same political party was elected as independent candidate to the provincial assembly.
Hamayun Khan, a former district nazim Malakand is the son of the founding leader of PPP, Mohammad Hanif Khan, a former federal minister in 1988-190 while Mahmood Zeb Khan was elected from District Dir Lower on the party ticket.
The portfolio of finance was earlier with Senior Minister Rahimdad Khan, who will also holds the portfolio of Shydo, Planning and Development Departments, The notification would be issued within two days.
Naveed given additional charge of Finance
KARACHI (May 15 2008): Pakistan People's Party has decided to give additional charge of Finance Ministry to Syed Naveed Qamar, Aaj TV reported. According to TV channel, this was decided in a PPP Central Executive Committee and Federal Council meeting held in Islamabad on Wednesday.
PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari reiterated that the PPP would not quit Punjab government and all the deposed judges would be restored. However, the co-chairman said that it might take some time to settle modalities. The TV channel claimed that Pakistan People's Party had also decided to replace Governor Punjab Khalid Maqbool with Salman Taseer.
Shaukat Tareen convener of economic advisory council
ISLAMABAD, May 15: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has constituted an economic advisory council for formulation and implementation of policies and a reforms agenda to steer the country out of the current crisis.
An official announcement said on Thursday that the finance minister would be the council’s chairman and Shaukat Tareen its convener.
Its members are: Planning Commission deputy Chairman Salman Farooqi, Hina Rabbani Khar, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Bashir Ali Mohammad, Mian Tariq Saigal, Farooq Rehmatullah, Saleem Raza, Saqib Shirani and the finance secretary.
The need for the council arose because of the resignation of Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar along with other federal ministers belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-N. The new finance secretary has been posted only a couple of weeks ago and the coalition government is due to present its first budget next month.
Federal Minister for Privatisation and Industries Syed Naveed Qamar has been given the additional charge of the finance ministry.
Hina Rabbani Khar, who was a member of the finance team of former premier Shaukat Aziz, has also been made special assistant to the prime minister on finance and economic affairs with the status of a minister of state.
PPI adds: A meeting between the prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari held on Thursday decided that federal Minister Sherry Rehman would have the additional charge of women’s division, Shah Mehmood Qureshi of petroleum and natural resources, Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar of commerce and Nazar Mohammad Gondal of agriculture.
ISLAMABAD, May 15: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has constituted an economic advisory council for formulation and implementation of policies and a reforms agenda to steer the country out of the current crisis.
An official announcement said on Thursday that the finance minister would be the council’s chairman and Shaukat Tareen its convener.
Its members are: Planning Commission deputy Chairman Salman Farooqi, Hina Rabbani Khar, Shahnaz Wazir Ali, Bashir Ali Mohammad, Mian Tariq Saigal, Farooq Rehmatullah, Saleem Raza, Saqib Shirani and the finance secretary.
The need for the council arose because of the resignation of Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar along with other federal ministers belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-N. The new finance secretary has been posted only a couple of weeks ago and the coalition government is due to present its first budget next month.
Federal Minister for Privatisation and Industries Syed Naveed Qamar has been given the additional charge of the finance ministry.
Hina Rabbani Khar, who was a member of the finance team of former premier Shaukat Aziz, has also been made special assistant to the prime minister on finance and economic affairs with the status of a minister of state.
PPI adds: A meeting between the prime minister and Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari held on Thursday decided that federal Minister Sherry Rehman would have the additional charge of women’s division, Shah Mehmood Qureshi of petroleum and natural resources, Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar of commerce and Nazar Mohammad Gondal of agriculture.
i think to take democracy further and get a better choice, they should let the busineses and banks of pakistan decide the finance minister.
same thing with others, education minister should be decided by the institutes in the country
same thing with others, education minister should be decided by the institutes in the country
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