LAHORE: Following an article published in Pakistan Today on March 23, 2018, titled, “CAA deposits Rs5bn in Ali Jehangir Siddiqui’s JS Bank, violating Finance Division’s Rules”, JS Bank has issued a rebuttal denying all claims and facts presented.
The statement read “The article was drafted and published based on a Finance Division Office Memorandum No.F.4(1)/2002-BR II dated July 02, 2003 which we consider to be wrongly interpreted.”
It further added that “JS Bank would like to clarify the following allegations that were made in the article. According to the article published, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Employees’ Pension Funds Trust had deposited Rs5 billion with JS Bank and that this was done in violation of Finance Division Rules & Regulations. According to the Finance Division Rules and Regulations, it is clearly stated that the Bank or Financial Institution taking a deposit from Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs) – such as the CAA – should have a minimum long-term credit rating of “A”.”
It went on to say, “JS Bank has been rated AA- (Long Term) which denotes very high credit quality and A1+ (Short Term) which is the highest possible short-term rating and falls well within these criteria.”
“It is further clarified that market competitive rates were offered to CAA and this was done as per the practice and procedures followed by the banking industry,” it added.
The statement further clarified, “It should be noted that all deposits maintained in JS Bank are done after following the strict guidelines laid down by our regulator, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and are in accordance with the prevalent laws of our country.”
