Khushhali Bank celebrates 9 year of success

[LahoreEstate]

ISLAMABAD: Khushhali Bank Limited (KBL), established in August 2000 as the country’s first licenced microfinance institution, celebrated its ninth anniversary on Monday.

President KBL Ghalib Nishtar, whilst expressing his views at the occasion said, “KBL’s nine-year journey has been both, challenging and rewarding. We began our journey with the mandate of retailing microfinance services and to act as a catalyst in stabilising the country’s microfinance sector, which at the time was in its infancy.” Today we can proudly say that we are realising our mandate with a strong resolve to continue to pave the way towards a more empowered and self-sustained Pakistan, he added.

Microfinance has been used as an effective tool to increase financial access to the non-banking population of the country for years now. The establishment of specialised microfinance banks for micro-financial services in Pakistan can and has been contributing towards enhancing the income generation capacity of individuals through the provision of increased access to capital and the opportunity to be part of mainstream economy. It is true that poverty eradication takes time but providing micro credits to the poverty struck people is definitely a step in the right direction and enables the low-income group to work towards achieving a higher standard of living and a more secure future.

Elaborating on KBL’s accomplishments, Nishtar said, “Since its inception in 2000, KBL has been dedicated towards creating a more economically active Pakistan whilst bettering the lives of the underprivileged people of the society. These nine years have truly been fruitful in terms of recognition, prosperity, and growth and not only of KBL, but its clients as well. Today KBL is the largest microfinance institution in Pakistan in terms of presence across 90 districts of the country and has processed over 1.8 million loans with cumulative disbursements exceeding Rs 20 billion.”

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...009_pg5_14