KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has set Rs225m paid-up capital benchmark for formation of a credit bureau company.

The decision was taken in line with the orders of the Sindh High Court (SHC). The court directed the SBP to decide upon and declare the minimum paid-up capital for establishing credit company.

“In compliance with the direction of the court, the SBP has issued the requisite order dated May 11, 2018 prescribing the minimum paid-up capital at Rs225m to be fully subscribed and deposited as paid-up capital of the company,” said the SBP.

Since the court has directed to set the minimum capital at a reasonable level, therefore, in line with the direction of the court, the State Bank has reviewed the local and global level of setting up credit bureaus in private sector. The cost quoted by the international experts ranges from $2m to $3m covering the major items including software implementation and licence fee, hardware infrastructure including disaster recovery site, yearly support and maintenance charges and training and implementation cost.

“The minimum paid-up capital of a credit bureau shall be Rs225m or as may be prescribed by the State Bank from time-to-time, but not less than Rs225m, should be fully subscribed and deposited as paid-up capital of the company,” said the SBP.

The State Bank has alre­ady issued conditional lice­n­ce to the one of the company to function as credit bureau in private sector who has met the minimum paid up capital requirement of R250m.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2018