State Bank of Pakistan

The State Bank of Pakistan acts as the country’s central bank and thus has a vital role in financial regulation. Naturally, it also has all the obligations central banks usually do, along with the roles they fulfil. The unique thing about the State Bank of Pakistan is that it’s divided into much more sections than regular central banks. As such, it has multiple subsidiaries and branches that oversee different parts of the country. The Bank operates from Pakistan’s financial capital, the city of Karachi.

However, that doesn’t lessen its presence in other parts of the country, which are under its branches. The Bank has 16 offices in total, including one in the capital city of Pakistan, Islamabad. It also operates from all of the country’s four different provincial capitals. Furthermore, the entity has various subsidiaries that cover different parts of its obligations and functionality.

Perhaps the most important subsidiary was the operational branch we were talking about until now. Its name is SBP Banking Services Corporation (SBP-BSC), and it’s the one in charge of the 16 offices. However, there are many more subsidiaries that fulfill different roles.

National Institute of Banking and Finance (NIBAF) is the first one and it provides training to commercial banks in the country. It acts as a preemptive measure against any financial wrongdoing, thus increasing the country’s economic stability. Another similar entity is the Deposit Protection Corporation (DPC), which also guarantees financial fairness. The last major subsidiary is the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC).

History

While we can go quite far back into the State Bank of Pakistan’s history but not a lot of it is relevant to its current state. It took the form that most resembles the one it has today during the 20th century and has remained somewhat unchanged. It was first founded due to the State Bank of Pakistan Order that came in 1948. Since then, it didn’t introduce any major changes for a significant period. The first major change since the State Bank of Pakistan was founded happened with The State Bank of Pakistan Act of 1956.

Even then, the functionality and obligations didn’t change much, and the document concerned the legal framework. However, one more important shift occurred on January 1, 1974, with the Bank’s nationalization. Since then, the scope of its operations increased by a significant margin and gave it a larger degree of autonomy. Naturally, there were changes since then, but none of them were as significant.

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