Yes, Pakistan has right to strike back Iran...
But on the other hand our sectarian lover brother fail to see how Saudi has destroyed Pakistani bank in New York, lost billions of dollar business. Instead of talking sectarianism , talk about saving Pakistan.
First religious extremism lost thousands of Pakistani and billions of foreign investment. And now a destroyed bank.
SBP blames relations with Saudi bank for closure of HBL branch in New York
The committee was informed that the New York branch of Habib Bank (HBL) faced money-laundering charges and a fine, leading to its closure, mainly because of its business with Al Rajhi Bank of Saudi Arabia.
“To a large extent, business with Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank was responsible for the downgrading and closure of the HBL branch,” SBP official Rizwan Haider said.
The committee was informed that decision-makers at HBL’s New York branch should not be blamed as the Saudi bank’s sudden downgrade was the source of the problem.
The committee was informed that the HBL branch had been operating in New York since 1978. In 2006, New York State’s banking regulator sought the bank’s compliance with regard to anti-money laundering (AML), suspicious activity reporting, suspicious transactions monitoring etc.
The branch received the “satisfactory” rating until 2011. It was downgraded to “marginal” in 2014 and “below satisfactory” in 2015.
Al Rajhi Bank also had a good standing with the Saudi regulator and was a major bank for remittances to Pakistan.
“This was the consideration of the HBL New York team while executing business with Al Rajhi... the decision to allow dollar clearance through the HBL New York branch was taken following due diligence in 2014 after JP Morgan closed the door on Al Rajhi for being a high-risk transaction bank,” the SBP official told the committee.
The committee was informed that some transactions of the bank were also restricted and management was asked to address deficiencies in AML compliance and clearing limitations.
Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2017
