KARACHI, Nov 26: The Habib Bank Ltd has set up a central processing unit at its foreign exchange branch here at a cost of Rs5 million to reduce 10 days processing period for establishing a letter of credit down to 48 hours.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, President, Bank Zakir Mahmood, said the central processing unit would cater the needs of 103 branches dealing in foreign exchange and exports throughout the country and would be manned by 25 experts.

He said the HBL handled around $1.2 billion worth imports and $1.5 billion exports per annum. The exporters will go to their respective branches and meet the relationship officers there, but the processing of the exports will be carried out in the central unit and will be conveyed back to the branch concerned through SWIFT system as all the 103 branches will be inter-linked with the central unit through computers, he explained.

He said this facility would go a long way in improving the exports as the exporters would be needed to focus on their business activity instead of worrying about the formalities and processing of export documents.

He said the information technology was playing pivotal role in improving the systems in the banking system. The role of IT can not be ignored in improving the efficiency, reducing the processing time, making the services more cost effective and ensuring convenience for the people using banking services, he said.

Replying to a question, he said the reduction in the export finance by the State Bank would leave a soothing impact on the national exports. It will reduce the cost of the exporters almost by two per cent, he added.

He said the HBL would continue to provide export finance in dollar and rupees, though at present there was no much difference in financing in two modes due to narrow gap in exchange rate.

About the privatization of the HBL, he said in the first quarter of 2002, the plan would be materialized.

The HBL will sell strategic interests and the over-subscription of the NBP shares in the capital markets is highly encouraging.—APP