KARACHI, Dec 31: The State Bank has cancelled licence of Atlas Bank Ltd (AtBL) and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) on Friday and said the operations of these banks have been stopped from Dec 31.

The SBP cancelled the licences in pursuance of amalgamation of Atlas Bank Limited (AtBL) with and into Summit Bank Limited and the Royal Bank of Scotland Limited (RBS Pakistan) with and into Faysal Bank Limited.

The central bank said it directed de-scheduling of Royal Bank of Scotland Limited (RBS Pakistan) with effect from the close of business on Dec 31, 2010, on account of its merger with and into Faysal Bank. The SBP also directed de-scheduling of Atlas Bank Limited with effect from Dec 31.

Faysal Bank in a statement issued the same day said the merger has been completed in a record time within three months of acquiring controlling interest. All RBS Pakistan branches have been converted and branded as Faysal Bank.

This acquisition has expanded Faysal Bank’s footprint to over 200 branches with combined business assets of over Rs250 billion placing it amongst the top 10 banks in Pakistan.