Pakistan’s 1st Listed Microfinance Bank Launched

The Network Microfinance Bank (NMB) was launched at a simple ceremony on Tuesday. The NMB is sponsored by the Network Leasing Corporation and Jahangir Siddiqui & Co and would be the first Microfinance institution to be listed at a stock exchange (the Karachi Stock Exchange). The bank would provide a full range of banking services to micro-entrepreneurs and people belonging to low income strata, says a press release issued here on December 29. Special efforts will be made to support and finance women entrepreneurs, said Ms Musaret Siddiqui the President of the Bank, the release said. Elaborating on the micro-financing theme of NMB, she explained the State Bank’s prudential regulation applicable to micro-finance banks, fixes the maximum loan size at Rs 100,000k. It further stated that the bank’s primary commercial banking function will be to provide short and medium term loans for working capital and other productive…