LAHORE, Jan 26: Governor Khalid Maqbool has asked the banking sector to meet its social responsibilities in respect of promotion of micro-financing in the rural and urban areas instead of offering big loans to the corporate sector and the influential people.

Speaking at the certificate distribution ceremony of 167 bankers completing the professional banking diploma course of the Institute of Bankers at the Alhamra Art Centre here on Wednesday, the governor said that the banks should extend the loan facilities to the white-collared people despite non-availability of collateral as helping those in need was the responsibility of the financial institutions and the rich in an Islamic society.

He said that the banks and financial institutions should promote Islamic banking in its true spirit in accordance with the aspirations of the people. He said that the banks should also introduce schemes to encourage the middle class to invest in stock exchange and other sectors of economy because the prosperity of the developing countries depended on encouragement of the small investors and bringing the loan facilities within the easy access of the highly qualified young people to enable them to put their ideas into practice.

He said that the banking sector was playing an important role in the economic development of Pakistan and the reforms introduced by the government during the past five years had enabled the low-income groups to benefit from the banking facilities. Consumer financing facility had become available to the government employees on payment of instalment of only Rs1,000 per month.

The governor welcomed the technical and financial assistance provided by the Institute of Bankers in establishment of colleges of business and finance at the Quaid-i-Azam University and International Islamic University, Islamabad, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan and Government College University, Faisalabad.

He said that the Hailey College of Banking and Finance, Punjab University, would soon start postgraduate classes in insurance. Institute of Bankers Chief Executive Muhammad Saleem Omar said 7,000 people trained by the IBP were serving the banking and financial institutions in senior management cadre. The institute would soon extend financial training facilities to SMEs in 37 cities in the country.