icici bank loan

 

icici bank loan news

ISLAMABAD - Chaudhry Usman, Member of the Board of Directors of Citi Bank and Chairman of the Nominating Committee has today approved a loan for Rs 463 million from IDB Capital Ventures Ltd (ICCI). The loan amount is to be used to develop Pakistan’s first digital financial hub in Islamabad that would have multiple branches located in different parts of the country.

The loans for this project were advanced by ICICI through its subsidiary – Citi Pakistan Limited.

“We are pleased by the approval of our board members of the company in approving a loan from IDB Capital, which was provided to us by ICICI on June 1 this year. It is a credit-worthy facility as it will help fund infrastructure development projects in the capital city of Islamabad.” said Dr Bilal Ahmad, Managing Director of Citi Bank. “ICCI was very pleased to approve such an important facility in Pakistan,” he added.

ICCI chairman Khalid Javed Abbasi said: “We believe that Chaudhry Usman is one of the most courageous, ethical, and reliable Pakistanis and his committee is another example of how strong Pakistan is behind its banking system. In the last six months since we had come forward with a proposal to increase our investment in IT sector of the country, more than 70 percent of Citi Pakistan’s investment portfolio, which includes equity stakes in other banks, had been invested in technology and fintech companies across Pakistan.” He further stated: “It was quite pleasing to meet Chaudhry Usman in Lahore, who is also a former CEO of PIA Group. I am certain that every time he speaks about Citi Pakistan and its commitment towards promoting e-commerce and lending, we get immense positive feedback. This is just one of many reasons why we feel so fortunate to have found Chaudhry Usman as Citi Pakistan Chairman of Nominations Commission.”

He concluded by saying: “It is really heartening that we have received this kind of support from people like Chaudhry Usman despite our efforts and commitments to make Citi Pakistan an efficient, trustworthy, and transparent bank. We now look forward to building a new era in Pakistan’s banking industry where the public can depend upon Citi Pakistan as a bank to help them with financial needs.”

The announcement was made at the official launch ceremony of Digital Financial Hub (D3) in Islamabad that included participation by Pakistan Army General Officer Commanding Multan Division Lt Gen Faheem Aspera, Prime Minister Imran Khan, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar, Federal Minister for Finance Shahbaz Gillani; and senior bureaucrats of the Ministry of Industries and Production Firdous Ashiq Awan Sharifi, Minister for Energy and Power Omar Ayub Khan, Deputy Chief Minister Shaukat Tarin and Parliamentary Secretary for Communications Farooq Sattar.

The event was attended by representatives of civil society organisations, stakeholders including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Mian Yousuf, Anwar Hassan, Khalid Mahmood Bugti, Maulana Haider Abbasi, Saif Ur Rehman, Sultan Qamar and others and special guests on security included Syed Mushtaq Farhan, retired army brigadier general, Lt Gen Faheem Aspera, former deputy chief of defence staff, Lieutenant General Faheem Aspera, Prime Minister Imran Khan, Union ministers, deputy commissioners, secretaries, officers and employees of both ministries, parliamentarians and ministers as well as senior officials of Central government and federal cabinet.

The ceremony was held under strict COVID19 guidelines and only 20% capacity. During the ceremony, the prime minister congratulated the CM for his leadership in implementing reforms, providing financial services, improving revenue generation and ensuring equal access to basic housing facilities for the common man.

The ceremony was followed by an interaction between D3 CEO Chaudhry Mansoor Abbasi and Citi’s MD Dr Bilal Ahmad, where also a brief history of the bank was shared by all the participants.

The executive director of IDB Capital Ventures Ltd. Abdul Latif Khan Qureshi welcomed the event and lauded the role Citing Pakistan played in global economy of the country and lauded Citi Pakistan efforts to promote real estate sector in Pakistan to achieve industrial revolution of the decade.

She remarked that Citi Pakistan was among top five best performing banks in Pakistan and she hailed it as proof of Pakistan's commitment in building its nation. She stressed on Citi Pakistan's progress in terms of corporate governance, risk management, risk business and governance practices while working with external partners and raising awareness in all sectors, especially women’s business. She assured that Citi Pakistan would focus on women empowerment at all levels, the bank’s vision being to build a progressive female-led business center that would facilitate growth and success of modern business and provide equal employment opportunities, gender parity, equitable healthcare services, career and technical education and employment opportunities along every line of service and create jobs for young graduates, especially women of local and tribal communities as well as for indigenous women. She also reiterated her firm belief that there is no better time than right now to transform Pakistan into a fully digitized and smart society where women would play key roles of technology and banking technology as well as making their own contributions towards national development.

The events that took place during this event were a testimony of the importance Pakistan attaches to the use of Information Communication Technology in a variety of spheres of lives. All the speakers and attendees appreciated the Citi Pakistan CEO for sharing his experience and knowledge about Pakistan's economic and social issues and his visionary approach to solving economic and social problems.