HBL rumored to acquire Silkbank's consumer holdings

On Thursday, Silk bank had initiated negotiations for a deal with Habib Bank Ltd , the country’s largest commercial bank, to sell its consumer portfolio, disclosed a notice sent to the Pakistan Stock Exchange .

HBL has approached Silkbank with a request for its concurrence to it for applying to the State Bank of Pakistan for permission to proceed with due diligence of its consumer portfolio — credit cards, personal installment loans and running finance, the exchange was informed by the company secretary through the notice.

HBL’s interest in SBL consumer assets follows the collapse of Fauji Foundation’s interest in acquiring the bank. He said the Fauji Foundation was no longer interested in the due diligence process.

At present, according to Silkbank’s nine-month unaudited accounts for the period covering January-September 2020, the bank’s CAR eroded significantly in nine months from 5.81pc at the end of 2019 to 4.16pc at the end of September 2020.