ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue directed the ministry of finance and the State Bank of Pakistan on Sunday to reconsider the Credit Bureaus Act, 2014.

A meeting of the committee, presided over by Omar Ayub Khan, directed the ministry and the SBP to reconsider the act in presence of stakeholders and submit an amended draft after 15 days.

MNAs Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, Daniyal Aziz, Pervaiz Malik, Sheikh Fayyazuddin, Nasir Khan Khattak, Mohammad Ali Rashid and Abdul Rashid Godil and senior officers of the ministry of finance, SBP, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and National Bank of Pakistan attended the meeting.

The meeting also sought a report comparing the law with the Indian Credit Bureaus Act and the best laws practised in the world.

A statement issued by the National Assembly Secretariat said the meeting considered the Credit Bureaus Act and received briefings on the working of the SECP and an NBP scam in Bangladesh, which caused a loss of Rs12 billion.

Tariq Nasim Jan, who attended the meeting on special invitation as a stakeholder, informed the committee that stakeholders were not taken on board by the SBP during the preparation of the Credit Bureaus Act.

The committee expressed displeasure over some clauses of the act as introduced in the National Assembly.

The NBP president told the committee that a report on the scam in Bangladesh would be completed next month.

The meeting constituted a sub-committee with Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh as convenor to investigate the scam and submit its findings in 45 days from the date of its first meeting.

The committee deferred discussion on the SECP’s working and decided to invite stakeholders / brokers to attend its next meeting to be held on Oct 14.

The meeting revised the terms of reference of the sub-committee constituted earlier with Daniyal Aziz as convenor and included Pervaiz Malik as its member.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd , 2014