KARACHI (October 06 2004): The State Bank has decided to charge renewal fee for banking licence and renewal fee for branches on annual basis, said a circular issued by SBP on Tuesday.
The State Bank has fixed Rs 100,000 per annum as renewal fee for banking licence and Rs 25000 per annum for each branch, while fee for shifting of branch would be Rs 5000.
“The issuance of licences, maintenance of record/database and subsequent processing of cases of shifting and verification of facts thereof requires considerable resources, which has an impact on the expense base of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP),” said the SBP circular.
The renewal fee for banking and branch licences as indicated below will be payable by January 7 each year. The first such fee will be paid by January 7, 2005.
The fee for shifting of branches will be payable at the time of submission of the request for the purpose and will be applicable with immediate effect. The fee can be paid either through the bank's authority letter for debiting their current account maintained with SBP Banking Services Corporation (Bank) duly signed by the bank's authorised signatory or through cheque in the name of SBP. The fee so paid will be non-refundable.
It has further been decided that, henceforth, every bank should open at least 20 percent of the branches planned to be opened, under its annual branch expansion plan, in un-banked areas.
“The banks are advised to keep this in view while submitting their annual branch expansion plan for the year 2005 and onwards,” said the SBP.
The above instructions will not be applicable to microfinance banks, Islamic banks, Islamic banking subsidiaries of existing commercial banks and stand-alone Islamic banking branches of the commercial banks.
“The above instructions shall form a part of the existing branch licensing policy notified vide BPD Circular No. 19 dated 16th June, 2004,” said the SBP circular.
The following fees will be charged for commercial banking and branch licences:-
================================================================= Sr. No. Item Fee Structure ----------------------------------------------------------------- (i) Renewal fee for banking licence issued Rs 100, 000/- under section 27 of BCO, 1962 per annum (ii) Renewal fee for branch (es) licences Rs 25,000/- per issued under section 28 of BCO for branch per branches operating in big cities annum (Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta, Faisalabad, Multan, Sialkot and Gujranwala). (iii) Renewal fee for branch(es) licences for branches operating at cities/places other than big cities mentioned at (ii) above. Nil (iv) Fee for shifting of branches to and within big cities. Rs 5,000/- per shifting =================================================================
