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He said initially Pakistani banks operating in Saudi Arabia were being authorised to sell different saving products in the kingdom on behalf of the CDNS.“The Habib Bank Limited (HBL) and the United Bank Limited (HBL) who have presence in the kingdom will launch our products with the help of other foreign banks operating there,” he added.He said his organisation was currently finalising negotiations with concerned banks in Saudi Arabia for striking an early deal with a view to sell different saving instruments to expatriates there. Pirzada pointed out that Pakistanis living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Oman were already taking part in government’s securities. “Our presence in these important countries of the Middle East is already there but we are now interested to go to other countries as well for which the central bank has given a go ahead signal to us,” the director general of the CDNS said.
The CDNS has been proposed to be renamed “Pakistan Savings” and a decision in this behalf is being awaited. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, he said, has agreed in principle to get CDNS converted into Pakistan Savings with a view to diversify its operations and offer market based salaries to its employees.
Responding to a question, he said so far HBL and the UBL had been asked to represent CDNS in the Middle East. “We will see whether we need the services of other banks as well,” he said adding that CDNS was hoping to raise lot of money by operating in the Middle East.
Saving capitalisation
“Potential is there for saving capitalisation as the earning of Pakistanis living there is much more than those living in Pakistan,” Pirzada asserted.
Pakistanis living aboard, he said, could
take part in the development of their motherland
by participating in various
g o v e r n m e n t
securities. “We
expect billions of
rupees from our
p r o p o s e d
schemes in the
remaining countries
of the Middle
East,” the
director general
of CDNS said.
About launching
national saving
schemes in Europe and the United
States, Pirzada said that it needed clearance by their regulatory authorities and that it might take some time to do that. “We will definitely approach them (regulatory authorities of Europe and America) once we cover our middle eastern market and this would be the second phase of our plan to go abroad for selling our highly profitable saving products,” he said confidently.
First phase, he said, will be commenced from the next financial year by starting CDNS’s operations from Saudi Arabia for which all preparations have been completed after getting clearance from the central bank.
He said similar saving instruments currently available to overseas Pakistanis living in the UAE, Qatar and Oman, will be offered to these residing in Saudi Arabia. “But some new instruments can be launched for which design for two products is currently being finalised,” Pirzada said. He said the CDNS after having achieved good market capitalisation in the Middle East, will be in a position to launch a variety of new instruments according to the choice of the investors.
“We do not mind competition with banks in line with the guidelines given by the central bank,” he said when asked whether competition with banks could hinder the interest of the national saving directorate. He said he believed in healthy competition and the level playing field that has been provided by the federal government. “But in the government’s securities, people have a lot of confidence which is helping us to generate adequate revenues on behalf of the government,” Pirzada said. He said investors felt secured in investing various government securities like national saving and they did not mind even if the rate of return was slightly lower compared to banks and other private financial institutions.
Pirzada said since CDNS did not have any kind of hidden charges and penalties in case of pre-mature encashment like other banks, depositors felt more comfortable in investing various national saving schemes.
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