March 11, 2003	Tuesday	Muharram 7, 1424

LAHORE, March 10: The HBL board of governors had approved the central bank’s guidelines for the “write-off of irrecoverable loans and advances” issued through its circular No. 29 in October.

Speaking to businessmen at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Monday, HBL senior executive vice president Naeem Iqbal said the way for businessmen to settle their loans and advances under the scheme had been paved by the approval of the guidelines by the bank’s board. He said his bank had adopted the best and by far the most positive approach on the ongoing debate on the SBP guidelines for the recovery and restructuring of the non-performing loans.

He invited the businessmen to come forward with their proposals and get the matter sorted out promptly as they would find the HBL highly positive in its approach. The issues, he added, would be settled in hours if the defaulting units were serious in resolving them and repaying their loans.

Mr Iqbal said his bank had created a window of opportunity for the business houses to benefit from the scheme and to again make their units viable.