18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

DHAKA, July 17: The Karachi branch of Bangladesh's public sector Rupali Bank is set to merge with a Pakistani security company soon, ending a four-year deadlock resulting from the State Bank of Pakistan's decision in 2000 to raise paid-up capital of foreign banks by four times, finance ministry sources here say,

Rupali Bank recently signed a memorandum of understanding with a financial institution in Pakistan, Arif Habib Securities Limited, which will eventually lead to the birth of a new joint venture bank in Pakistan with Rupali commanding 21 per cent of the total share, the sources added.

The State Bank on December 6, 2000 raised the paid-up capital for all operating foreign banks from Rs250 million Rs1,000 million and had asked Rupali to comply with the directive by 2002. But Rupali failed to comply with the requirement during the stipulated timeframe.