Faysal Bank gears up to Launch its own Currency Exchange Venture

Faysal Bank Limited has received approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) to set up a Currency Exchange Company as a subsidiary.

The second biggest Islamic bank in the country notified PSX that it has been awarded a certificate of incorporation by SECP. The bank will obtain a nod from the State Bank of Pakistan to commence the commercial operation of its wholly-owned subsidiary in the next step.

Like leading commercial banks, the management of Faysal Bank also decided to set up a currency exchange company last year, which was allowed by the banking watchdog to regulate foreign exchange across the country. The regulation of the foreign exchange may monitor effectively the outflow of foreign currency.

Earlier, the banking regulator decided to wind up the operation of exchange companies under category B after various companies failed to comply with rules and regulations, and their operations were terminated with immediate effect. Later, all similar exchanges were asked to shut down operations in phases.

The SBP allowed commercial banks to set up a separate exchange company as a subsidiary as an alternate option besides the currency exchange companies were allowed to merge their operations with each other or with exchange companies to category A.

Commercial banks with handsome assets and deposits were quick to announce the establishment of exchange companies including HBL, UBL, Meeza Bank, Bank Al Habib, Faysal Bank, etc.