Apr 01 - 07, 2002

SEMINAR AT DADABHOY UNIVERSITY

Mr. Qutubuddin Aziz, a former minister for Information at Pakistan Embassy in UK, has urged the nation to shun sectarianism and work for building a better, bigger and stronger Pakistan as envisaged by the founder of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Addressing a seminar at Dadabhoy University on Quaid-e-Azam and his vision of Pakistan, he said Muhammad Ali Jinnah had visioned a Muslim state, based on fundamentals of Islamic principles with gender equalities where all should work shoulder to shoulder for the development of Pakistan.

He said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah believed in equal rights for minorities and was a liberal in his thinking since his students days. He, however, believed in Islamic ideology and married Ratti, his second wife, only after she embraced Islam.

He said Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah laid great emphasis on education and praised the services of Dadabhoy family for the promotion of cause of education in the country.

Earlier, Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Hasnain Kazmi welcomed the guest speaker while Dr. Rafique Ahmad Khan presented vote of thanks. The lecture was followed by question- answer session.

KARACHI SHERATON'S NEW DIRECTOR

Mr. Nabeel Sheikh has recently been promoted to the post of Director of Guest Services, Karachi Sheraton Hotel & Towers where he will directly be responsible for the total operation of 407 rooms and all front of the house concerns of the hotel. Mr. Sheikh will be overseeing the operations of the Receptions, the Towers and Smart floors, the Concierge and Valet services, the Business Center, the Telephones and the Protocol and be responsible for maintaining the high standards set by Karachi Sheraton Hotel & Towers in each work area.

A young, aggressive and highly professional individual, Nabeel Sheikh joined the Karachi Sheraton Hotel & Towers in December 1992 in the Banquet Sales Office as a Coordinator, moving up the ladder to become the Banquet Sales Manager within a short while. Prior to his current position as Director of Guest Services Mr. Sheikh was associated with the Sales & Marketing Department and in-charge of Revenue Management of the hotel. Well known for his silent demeanor and leadership qualities, Nabeel Sheikh enjoys music and movies in his spare time.

"Nabeel Sheikh has been instrumental in the success and growth of the Karachi Sheraton Hotel & Towers over the past years," comments Mr. Thomas van Opstal, General Manager, Karachi Sheraton Hotel & Towers. "With this move, we look forward to a positive contribution of his diverse experience at the Karachi Sheraton towards a development in the hotel's renowned service standards."

Karachi Sheraton Hotel & Towers, the only internationally-managed five star hotel in Pakistan, is a part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, inc. which has more than 700 hotels in 76 countries and takes pride in the quatity of staff it hires all over the world to bring about consistency in service in whichever Starwood property you experience.

PICIC COMMERCIAL BANK LTD. (PCBL)

The Eighth Annual General Meeting of PICIC Commercial Bank Limited was held at Beach Luxury Hotel, Karachi. The meeting was attended by a large number of shareholders and was presided over by Mr. Muhammad Ali Khoja, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Mr. Khoja in his address to the members reviewed Bank's performance during the year ended 2001 along with management's plans for future growth of the Bank, which were highly appreciated by the shareholders. The shareholders of the bank also praised the endeavors of the management towards reduction in operating expenses and increase in profitability.

The members expressed keen interest in the affairs of the Bank, its operating performance and raised several questions on the annual accounts ending 2001, which were answered to their satisfaction by the Chairman, President and management representatives. Thereafter the members delightedly approved the audited accounts of the bank for the year ended 31st December 2001.

The shareholders also approved the issue of bonus and right shares as recommended by Board of Directors in the proportion of 25 and 40 shares respectively for every 100 shares. Further M/s. A. F. Ferguson & Co., Chartered Accountants, were re-appointed as Auditors of the Bank for the year 2002.

MEETING OF EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF MODARABA ASSOCIATION OF PAKISTAN

The 72nd meeting of the Executive Committee of Modaraba Association of Pakistan was held on Tuesday in the office of First Fidelity Leasing Modaraba at Lahore under the Chairmanship of Mr. Basheer A. Chowdry. The meeting was attended by the members of Karachi and Lahore and discussed various issues of day-to-day operations of the Modaraba sector.

In addition, the Committee reviewed the performance of the Modaraba sector in the perspective of the macro-economic situation of the country. The Committee members showed their satisfaction over the steps taken by the government to further accelerate the economic growth.

Mr. Basheer Chowdry, emphasised on the improvement of self-regulatory mechanism to protect the interest of the certificate holders and also to ensure handsome payout to the certificate holders through good corporate governance and quality decision making.

INVESTMENT IN HUMAN CAPITAL

Dr. Aynul Hasan, Coordinator, Poverty Centre Office of the Executive Secretary ESCAP, Bangkok said sustained investment in human capital is a prerequisite to a country's rapid and long-lasting economic development. He said this while delivering a talk on "The Role of Human Capital in Economic Development: Some Myths & Realities", at the Preston Institute of Management, Science & Technology (PIMSAT) Islamabad campus.

Dr. Hasan stated that according to a study conducted recently it was observed that in the past three decades, among other things, the nations in the Asian Region with broad-based healthy human capital (such as East Asian developing countries) grew faster than the ones (such as Asian least developed countries and South Asian developing countries) where these elements were missing. The experiential results in the referenced study corroborated the premise that there is an important link between healthy human capital and rapid economic development of a country.

He said that under similar economic predicaments with comparable per capita incomes in the 1960's, some countries (such as East Asian developing countries) were investing far more in human capital and health sectors on a per capita basis than the other nations (such as Asian least developed countries and South Asian developing countries). This fact, he maintained, substantiated the point that it is the commitment and priority of a nation rather than other economic factors alone that enabled East Asian developing countries to invest and build up their human capital base even when they were all equally wealthy or equally impoverished.

TERADATA SEMINAR ON CRM IN BANKING

Teradata, a division of NCR organizes a seminar on "CRM in Banking, Realizing the Promise". This is first of its kind seminar in Pakistan which was focused on the financial sector especially banks and insurance. The objective of the seminar is to create awareness in the space of Customer Relationship Management in the banking industry.

Syed Ali Reza, President, National Bank of Pakistan was the Chief Guest at the Seminar. He highlighted the importance of information technology by keeping in view the current scenario. He also discussed that in order for local banks to be emerged as champions, they need to get focus on Information technology. He also mentioned the competition from foreign banks has really changed the functioning of existing banks in our country.

The most important thing in the present scenario is to have access of detailed information so that a better decision-making can be done. While praising NCR in brining new technologies to Pakistan, he also said, that technologies like Datawarehousing and CRM can help the organization in effectively doing planning, and taking timely and corrective actions.

Syed Veqar ul Islam, Country General Manager, NCR gave his views about CRM as well as the development of Information Technology in Pakistan. Mr. Islam said that this seminar would create better awareness of using IT for better-informed decision-making. He said, "the era of data processing and information gathering is over. This is the era of using the data to turn into information, information into knowledge and wisdom, and wisdom into relationship

Mr. Michael Spanaodues, the Area Solution Team Leader & Specialists in Banking & Insurance Industries, NCR Middle East Africa Region gave a detailed presentation on CRM and its uses in the Banking environment. He talked about Account Profitability, Channel Analysis & Planning, event based marketing and converting sales leads into actual business for the banks. He also covers a broad range of concepts that can be very helpful for the Banking Industry in Pakistan. Another speaker for the event was Mr. Tabish Sabah, Account Director, Teradata Division and he spoke on the subject of Contact Center Solutions. He talked about of giving more channels to the customer to have access to information and the contact center should be linked to the Datawarehouse to do better analysis and effectively better decision-making.

MCB'S CLARIFICATION

This has reference to the news items reported in the press recently regarding Adamjee Insurance. MCB in its normal course of business invests in shares of public listed companies for the benefit of the Bank in accordance with law.

MCB has been advised that the suit filed by Adamjee is unjustified and frivolous and accordingly the Bank shall fully defend its legal position in Court.

MCB in deference to law does not wish to comment on the merits of the case, as the matter is subjudice.