ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue Friday asked the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to provide details about the criteria it followed in the appointment of its last three presidents and the current president.
Chairing the meeting of the committee, Faiz Ullah expressed his concerns over the mismanagement made in appraisement, rewards and appointments of branch managers in NBP at lower level, especially in Faisalabad division.
The committee also directed the bank to provide detail about how many employees were recruited in New York (USA) and details of the procedure adopted along with their experience, qualifications and performance.
The NA body also recommended to Ministry of Finance to provide the comprehensive report, whether the required process for hiring of NBP senior officers including group heads were followed or not.
On the occasion, the committee members expressed concerns over the educational criteria highlighted for recruitment of senior officers in the bank, apprehending violation of the recruitment policies.
The Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan informed the committee that the recruitment of president, board directors and key executives need approval of the SBP.
However, added that sometimes bank can appoint key executive itself and report to SBP if SBP thinks there was further required clarifications they can intervene accordingly.
Earlier, NBP president briefed the committee about the hiring status of the employees of the NBP from 2019 to 2020, and informed it that the recruitment process was done by using existing board’s approved policies and process for external recruitment.
He said that all the senior positions were advertised internally (within the bank) accordingly, internal candidates were assessed and eligible candidates were short listed and interviewed, however, none of them were found up to the mark.
He added that the new higher were very experienced in their disciplines, expert in their role have a proven track record and have worked for top organization with distinction.
He invited the attention of the committee towards the accountability process initiated across the board, wherein, two Senior Executive Vice Presidents (SEVPs) and five EVPs were terminated in order make NBP a thriving organization.
He was of the stance, that present chain of complaints was a reaction to the disciplinary performance measures being under taken.
Meanwhile, the committee also discussed the Eradication of Riba Bill, 2019, moved by Abdul Akbar Chitrali, MNA and expressed its dissatisfaction on the presentation given by the State Bank of Pakistan.
It directed the Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Deputy Governor, State Bank of Pakistan to arrange a meeting with the mover along with Dr Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Amjad Ali Khan, Abdul Wasay and Syed Javed Hasnain, MNAs for concrete and speedy way forward in this regard.
Faiz Ullah, chairman of the committee also desired that an exclusive meeting should be called to discuss the said matter.
Senior Representative from Provincial Finance Commission, Punjab briefed the Committee regarding the disbursement of NFC allocation in the province and its further division in districts.
The committee expressed its grave concern over the discriminatory distribution of funds in the districts and recommended that provincial government should review its policies in this regard and District Development Plans may be introduced for smooth functioning in future.
The meeting was attended by MNAs and movers, Syed Sami-ul-Hassan Gillani, Jamil Ahmed Khan, Sadaqat Ali Khan Abbasi, Amjad Ali Khan, Faheem Khan, Chaudhary Khalid Javed, Muhammad Israr Tareen, Ali Perviz, Dr. Aisha Ghaus Pasha, Ms Hina Rabbani Khar, Aamir Mehmood Kiani, Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry, Syed Naveed Qamar, Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali, Syed Javed Hasnain Shah and Abdul Wasay.
The meeting was also attended by the senior officers from Ministry of Finance and Revenue, Law and Justice, State Bank of Pakistan, National Bank of Pakistan and Provincials and Federal Finance Commissions, (KPK and Punjab).
