These Banks Will Roll Out Collateral-Free Loan Scheme for SMEs

 

Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Dr. Reza Baqir, announced that banks have shown an overwhelming response to an innovative financing scheme for collateral-free lending to SMEs introduced by the State Bank and supported by the Government of Pakistan.

The banks have been selected through a transparent bidding process based on prescribed criteria. While appreciating banks’ enthusiastic response, Dr. Reza Baqir, Governor State Bank, emphasized the early rollout of the scheme by banks. He also underscored the importance of extensive awareness and marketing of the scheme for the SMEs to fully utilize its benefits.

Out of 20 banks that competed for participating in this scheme, 8 banks under four categories have been selected on the basis of the highest amount of finance and the highest number of SME clients to be served.

This is the first time a comprehensive collateral-free SME lending scheme has been introduced by the State Bank of Pakistan in the country. These categories include large banks, mid-sized banks, small banks, and banks in collaboration with fintech's. The winning banks are

1. Habib Bank Ltd,
2. United Bank Ltd,
3. Allied Bank Ltd,
4. Meezan Bank Ltd,
5. Bank Alfalah Ltd,
6. The Bank of Punjab,
7. JS Bank Ltd and
8. The Bank of Khyber

These banks have been selected through a transparent bidding process based on prescribed criteria. While appreciating banks’ enthusiastic response, Dr. Reza Baqir, Governor State Bank emphasized the early rollout of the scheme by banks. He also underscored the importance of extensive awareness and marketing of the scheme for the SMEs to fully utilize its benefits.