KARACHI, July 9: National Bank President Syed Ali Raza says 10 per cent of NBP branches would be headed by women bankers. He said this while addressing a dialogue session with branch/operation managers to improve NBP’s “top down, bottom-up” communication.

Over 300 field functionaries attended the programme held at a local hotel, says a press release.

It quotes Mr Raza as saying that NBP would increase its annual agricultural lending to Rs20 billion.

The NBP chief said that performance would be the sole criteria for promotion and other incentives in his organization and urged all employees to support merit culture.

Dr Mirza Abrar Baig, group chief (human resources), while welcoming the delegates noted with pride that NBP profits had risen from a mere half-a-billion rupees in 1999 to more than Rs12 billion in 2004.