PESHAWAR: Habib Bank Ltd, Pakistan’s biggest lender, said on Tuesday the bank was exiting Afghanistan with the approval of the Afghan central bank and as per the regulatory requirements of the country, responding to media reports that HBL’s Kabul operating license had been canceled.
HBL has had a branch in Kabul since 2004.
On Monday, the Afghan Khaama News Agency reported that Afghanistan’s Central Bank had canceled the operating license of HBL after audits “revealed numerous violations committed by Habib Bank during the past 10 years.”
Khalil Sediq, the governor of Afghanistan’s central bank, was reported as saying audits showed regulation violations and the bank did not comply with Afghan instructions to change its capital in Afghan currency.
Sediq also said HBL had failed to contribute to the economic development of Afghanistan and given no loans to Afghan entrepreneurs.
Ali Habib, the chief corporate communications officer at HBL, did not reply to direct questions asking about the Afghan central bank’s accusations but said HBL consistently sought “to act in compliance with the laws and regulations” of the countries in which it operated.
“HBL’s exit from Afghanistan is being undertaken as per the regulatory requirements of Afghanistan and with the approval of the Central Bank of Afghanistan,” he said, adding that the exit needed to be seen in the larger context of HBL’s overall strategy of “rightsizing operations in some markets.”
Habib said the exit would be completed latest by the third quarter of 2019.
“HBL’s Afghanistan operations are highly liquid, well-funded and well-capitalized to complete the exit in an orderly manner,” he said, adding that the exit “would be orderly and organized and all customer deposits, assets and liabilities would be settled in line with the banking laws of Afghanistan.”
In 2017, the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS) said it was seeking to fine Habib Bank up to $630 million for “grave” compliance failures relating to anti-money laundering rules and sanctions at its only US branch. The bank agreed to pay $225 million to settle the enforcement action brought against it for infringing laws designed to combat illicit money transfers.
HBL said at the time that it “remains committed to strengthening its compliance processes, operations and controls” across its 1,700 branches.
Pakistan’s Habib Bank says winding down Kabul ops as per regulatory requirements
Pakistan’s Habib Bank says winding down Kabul ops as per regulatory requirements
- Afghan media reported on Monday the Afghan central bank had cancelled the operating license of HBL over regulatory violations
- HBL says exit part of larger “rightsizing” strategy, undertaken as per regulatory requirements of Afghanistan
Historic Sikh prayer held at Lahore’s Aitchison College gurdwara after nearly 80 years
- Ceremony marks 140th anniversary of colonial-era institution
- Shrine had remained closed since Partition due to absence of Sikh students
ISLAMABAD: A Sikh worship service was held today, Friday, at the historic gurdwara inside Lahore’s Aitchison College, reopening the shrine for prayer nearly eight decades after it fell out of regular use following the 1947 Partition.
Founded in 1886 to educate the sons of royalty and prominent families of undivided Punjab, Aitchison College once served students from Muslim, Hindu and Sikh backgrounds. After Partition, which created Pakistan and India and triggered mass migration along religious lines, Sikh enrollment ended and the gurdwara ceased functioning as an active place of worship, though the college continued to maintain the building.
Friday’s ceremony took place as part of events marking the elite school’s 140th anniversary.
“A historic and emotional Sikh worship service was held at the Gurdwara on the campus of Aitchison College,” the institution said in a statement announcing the ceremony.
The gurdwara was designed by renowned Sikh architect Ram Singh of the then Mayo School of Arts, now the National College of Arts. Its foundation stone was laid in 1910 by Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, a former Aitchison student who studied there from 1904 to 1908, and the Patiala royal family supported fundraising for its construction. Completed shortly afterward, it served as a daily prayer space for Sikh pupils attending the school.
About 15 Sikh alumni of Aitchison College are currently living in India and have recalled attending evening prayers at the gurdwara, describing its black-and-white marble flooring and castle-like interior architecture.
The campus also houses other pre-Partition places of worship, including a mosque built in 1900 by the Nawab of Bahawalpur and a Hindu temple whose foundation stone was laid in 1910 by the Maharaja of Darbhanga.
Over the decades, Aitchison College has educated prominent figures from across pre-Partition Punjab and modern South Asia, including former Pakistani prime ministers Imran Khan, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Feroz Khan Noon, as well as Indian cricket captain Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi and members of princely families such as the Maharaja of Patiala.
