January 1, 2016

State Bank of Pakistan issues regulations for Debt Property Swap

Karachi, January 01, 2016 (PPI-OT):State Bank of Pakistan with the purpose of ensuring consistency in the banking regulations and practices and to address the emerging challenges in a proactive manner regularly issues instructions to the banks/DFIs. Presently, keeping in view the rising trend in debt property swaps, it was decided to introduce a separate set of Regulations on debt property swap so as to better supervise the exposure of banking industry to real estate sector i.e. Regulations for Debt Property Swap (DPS).

The Regulations are meant to set minimum standards for DPS transactions and minimize risks in the settlement of non-performing loans (NPLs). The DPS Regulations are effective from the date of issuance and transactions in-process shall also be concluded as per these regulations, where applicable. The banks/DFIs lacking appropriate systems and procedures to ensure full compliance with these regulations are being given a time period of three months, from the issuance of the instructions, to streamline and/or develop the required systems and procedures.

Those banks/DFIs, which are within the prescribed limits, shall follow the same;’ while others who have exposure higher than the limits shall approach the State Bank of Pakistan within three months with a well defined plan envisaging compliance of exposure benchmarks within a period of maximum two years. The DPS regulations are in addition to all applicable laws including Financial Institutions (Recovery of Finances) Ordinance, 2001.

For more information, contact:
Syed Wasimuddin
Chief Spokesman
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)
Central Directorate
I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-111-727-111
Tel: +92-21-39212562
Fax: +92-21-39212433 – 39212436
Email: syed.wasimuddin@sbp.org.pk
Website: www.sbp.org.pk

January 1, 2016

Islamabad Stock Exchange Market Statistics Report Friday January 01, 2016

Islamabad, January 01, 2016 (PPI-OT):

MARKET TREND:                  Bullish

COMPANIES TRADED:              TOTAL          PLUS       MINUS     EQUAL

                                 137           115         -22        0

INDEX POSITION:                INDEX          Opening    Closing   Change

ISE-10 Index:                                 2754.49    2781.35    26.86

                               INDEX          Opening    Closing   Change

IMI- 25 Index                                 2417.23    2450.94    33.71

TOTAL VOLUME:                                 Previous   Current    Change

218,500                                        11,200     50,000    38,800

                                              Previous   Current    Change
B to B Volume                               4,896,505  5,419,976   523,471

VOLUME LEADERS:

Company                                VOLUME of Shares

Silk Bank Ltd                                    50,000

Top Gainer Pakistan Tobacco Rs. 1168.99 with an increase of Rs.+ 54.80.

Top Loser Siemens Engineering Rs. 885.00 with a decrease of Rs. -15.00.

For more information, contact:
Islamabad Stock Exchange
ISE Towers
55-B, Jinnah Avenue, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92(51)111-473-473
Fax: +92(51)111-473-329
Email: info@ise.com.pk

January 1, 2016

Huawei producing better and better devices with surprising regularity

Lahore, January 01, 2016 (PPI-OT): Huawei, a global technology giant, is going to mark 2016 with its incredible high technology products most likely the previous year. It has been observed even by the hypercritical technology analysts that Huawei is a technology master that has performed outstandingly in 2015. Among the competitor market, Apple and Samsung fall way behind in the race because of the fact that Huawei is producing better devices, consistently improving them and even consumer market is hailing these products astonishingly more.

Generally 2015 has been a marvellous year for Huawei, undoubtedly. Huawei has successfully sold more than 100 million phones in the said year. Huawei launched some exciting high end products like Huawei P8 and Mate S, which captured the consumer markets, especially in Pakistan, due to unmatched features and specs. Mate S represents a vivid superior quality of smart technology experience against the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Apples’ most technology proclaimed gadget, iPhone 6S. Among these it was Mate S that has changed the perception about the quality of Huawei products totally and set a new trend in the consumer market. Hot sales of Huawei Mats were another record, subsequently.

Unlike Samsung and Apple Huawei came up with new conventions in the market by equally focusing the low end devices with best quality of technology incorporated in the complete range of products. Huawei Honor 4X and Huawei P8 lit was the manifestation of this commitment of Huawei and enabled consumer behaviour inclined towards the positive ends for Huawei products. This was tradition of consumer centric technology product manufacturing at a large spectrum of prices to address all the segments with equal priority showed up with the record best sales of Huawei P8 lite and Honor 4X.

Huawei Nexus 6P was also another smart phone by Huawei that was available at best affordable price as compared to Apple’s iPhone 6S plus but the more notable thing was that Nexus 6P has clearly shattered the latter’s image for being best smart phone in market. Now for New Year that has just begun Huawei has a list of stupendous products to introduce in Pakistani market. Among these Mate 8 is a flagship device that would be big blow again to the compotators in the smart technology manufacturers.

Mate 8 is expected to be launched in the last week of January 2016. Also like the Mate S glorious launch events first in Dubai and then here in Pakistan. It is strongly expected that Mate 8 launch event will is going to take heart of technology lovers again. Mate 8 has enhanced with lustrous and elegantly compact design and added with a touch of supreme aesthetic taste and an excellent style symbol business class.

Tweet: Huawei nailed 2015 with marvellous high technological products.

Hashtag: #Huaweisachievements

For more information, contact:
Sabah Uddin Qazi
ME Brand Manager
Huawei
8th Floor, Saudi-Pak Tower, Blue Area, Islamabad Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-2800000-20
Fax: +92-51-2800008
Mobile: +92-333-5240632
E-mail: qazi@huawei.com
Website: www.huawei.com

January 1, 2016

Abdul Rauf Alam urges non-filers to avail Voluntary Tax Compliance Scheme

Karachi, January 01, 2016 (PPI-OT):Abdul Rauf Alam, newly elected President of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has hailed the decision taken during the meeting of the small and medium scale traders with the Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and the Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar on Friday the 1st January, 2016 to launch a Voluntary Tax Compliance (VTC) Scheme through consensus after approval by the Members Legislative Assembly and Senate.

The FPCCI Chief elaborated that the meeting was called by the Prime Minister on the initiative of the Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Nisar Muhammad Khan and attended by about 400 small and medium traders under the aegis of FPCCI President. He added that the VTC Scheme is aimed to register non-filer traders and regulate the undocumented economy and as such they would be allowed to file Income Tax Returns on the payment of due tax (principle amount) along with 1% of the declared amount, by the 31st Jan, 2016.

The President of FPCCI disclosed that the VTC Scheme has been finalized after five months of detailed and hectic series of negotiations with the traders, through the courtesy of FPCCI President, after accepting almost all the major proposals and demands raised by the small and medium traders of the country.

The FPCCI Chief hoped that the TRC Scheme would go a long way to broaden the tax net and appealed to the potential taxpayers to avail the opportunity and pay tax transparently for greater development and prosperity and fulfill their national duty as collecting more taxes would help build a stronger economy, reduce unemployment and poverty, attract more investment and fortify the country in the fight against terrorism. At the same time he also urged the FBR Chief to extend his full support, cooperation and facilitation to the new taxpayers availing the Scheme.

For more information, contact:
M. A. Lodhi
Secretary General
Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI)
B-1, Federation House, Main Clifton Road,
Shahra-e-Firdousi,
Karachi-75600, Pakistan
Tel: +92-21-35873691, 93-94
Fax: +92-21-35874332
Email: info@fpcci.com.pk
URL: www.fpcci.com.pk

January 1, 2016

Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited maintains stability rating of NAFA Financial Sector Income Fund

Lahore, January 01, 2016 (PPI-OT): The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited (PACRA) has maintained the stability rating of NAFA Financial Sector Income Fund (NFSIF) an open-end income fund, at ‘A+'(f) (Single A Plus ; fund rating). The fund’s rating denotes a strong capacity to manage relative stability in returns and low exposure to risks.

The fund’s investment mandate is to provide enhanced income while ensuring capital preservation by investing in prime quality financial and corporate sector TFCs/Sukuks, bank deposits and short-term money market instruments.

The rating reflects the fund’s strong credit quality, modest liquidity profile and its mandate of maintaining minimum exposure of 70% at all times in the financial sector. At end-Sep15, the portfolio of the fund was primarily invested in debt securities (TFCs: 32% – AA- or above) while the remaining assets were kept as daily cash balances in form of placements and deposits (66% – A+ or above). The unit holding pattern of the fund is moderately concentrated with top10 investors representing ~43% of the fund’s assets.

Going forward, the fund plans to keep its allocation to debt instruments (50%) of the financial sector, while the remaining assets will be invested in bank placements (35%) and government securities (15%). Material changes in the fund’s asset allocation strategy, which could negatively impact the fund’s credit quality and exposure to interest rate risk, remain critical for the rating.

For more information, contact:
Hammad Rashid
Analyst
The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited (PACRA)
Awami Complex, FB1, Usman Block New Garden Town,
Lahore – Pakistan
Tel: +9242 586 9504 -6
Fax: +9242 583 0425
Email: hammad.rashid@pacra.com
Web: www.pacra.com

January 1, 2016

Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited maintains stability rating of MCB Islamic Income Fund

Lahore, January 01, 2016 (PPI-OT): The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA) has maintained the stability rating of MCB Islamic Income Fund (MCB-IIF), an open-end Shariah compliant income fund, at ‘AA- (f)’ (Double A Minus; fund rating). The fund’s rating denotes a very strong capacity to manage relative stability in returns and very low exposure to risks. The investment objective of the fund is to generate superior risk adjusted returns by investing in short, medium and long-term Shariah compliant fixed income instruments.

The rating incorporates the fund’s strong credit quality and sound liquidity profile. This emanates from the fund’s policy to invest only in good quality Shariah compliant instruments. The portfolio of the fund at end-Sep15 is primarily invested in GoP Ijara Sukuks (55%). The remaining net assets of the fund are held as daily cash balances (34%) with banks having high credit quality (AA or above), and invested in high rated corporate Sukuk (9%).

Additionally, the rating incorporates the fund’s modest exposure to interest rate volatility with the average portfolio duration of 45 days over the last 4 quarters the fund has well diversified unit holding pattern, with top10 investors representing 30% of the fund size at end Jun-15.

Going forward, the fund intends to maintain its exposure to government securities (above 70%) with rest of the fund’s assets invested in Shariah compliant instruments rated A+ and above. Material changes in the fund’s asset allocation strategy, which could negatively impact the fund’s credit quality and exposure to interest rate risk, remains critical for the rating.

January 1, 2016

Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited maintains stability rating of Lakson Money Market Fund

Lahore, January 01, 2016 (PPI-OT): The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA) has maintained the stability rating of Lakson Money Market Fund (LMMF), an open-end money market fund, at ‘AA (f)’ (Double A; fund rating). The fund’s rating denotes a very strong capacity to manage relative stability in returns and very low exposure to risks. The investment policy of the fund is to earn reasonable rate of return by constructing a highly liquid portfolio of treasury bills, money market placements, and deposits with scheduled banks.

The rating reflects the fund’s low risk profile emanating from its portfolio allocation towards low risk avenues. At end-Sep15, government securities formed 37% of the fund’s net assets while remaining assets were placed with financial institutions having very strong credit quality (‘AA’ and above). The fund carries monthly average duration of 48 days at end-Sep15. Fund carries high redemption risk as the unit holding pattern of the fund is highly concentrated, with the top 10 investors representing 85% of the net assets.

Going forward, the rating remains dependent on maintaining at least 25% allocation towards government securities with portfolio duration not exceeding 90 days. Meanwhile, the remaining assets of the fund must be placed with scheduled banks having credit ratings ‘AA’ and above. PACRA would monitor compliance against agreed parameters on monthly average basis but ratings draw comfort from sizable investment of 44% from group.