MoF proposes seven-member board for sell-off of SME bank

The Finance Ministry has proposed a seven-member board dominated by government representatives, aimed at facilitating privatisation of Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Bank, official sources told Business Recorder In terms of section 11(3) (a) of the Banks (Nationalization) Act, 1974, the federal government is competent to appoint chairman and other members of the Board of Directors of the Bank.
Under section 11(1)(a)&(b) of Banks (Nationalization) Act, 1974, a bank shall have a board consisting of ;(i) a President who shall be its Chief Executive and ;(ii) no less than five and not more than seven other members.
In addition to the president SME Bank, who is the ex-officio Director on the Board of SME Bank, minimum five vacancies of Directors are required to be filled to make the Board operational.
According to Finance Ministry, privatisation of SME bank is at an advanced stage and in order to facilitate the process of privatisation, some approvals are required to be given by the Board of Directors as per law.
Therefore, the Finance Division has proposed that the following may be appointed on the Board of SME Bank so that privatisation of SME may proceed smoothly;(i) President/CEO, SME Bank Ltd(ex-officio Director);(ii) CEO, SMEDA( ex-officio Director);(iii) any Joint Secretary nominated by MoI&P(ex-officio Director);(iv) any Joint Secretary nominated by MoC( ex-officio Director);(v) Omar Farooq, Planning Management Expert( Independent Director); (vi) Enamullah Khan, Trade Broker/ Banker( Independent Director) and ;(vii) Deputy Director(IF), and Finance Division (ex-officio Director).