Tremendous Growth In E-Banking Witnessed

E-banking has grown tremendously in recent years and considerable improvement in the e-banking infrastructure and activities during last fiscal years 2010-2011 is a continuation of recent trends.
According to the State Bank Of Pakistan(SBP) the quarterly number of electronic transactions reached 53.4million by fourth quarter of last fiscal year , almost doubling in the last three years.
This clearly reflects the increasing use of e-banking services in the payment system infrastructure. This is an encouraging development as e-banking facilities provide a viable solution for expanding the outreach of financial services to remote areas. The composition of electronic transactions indicated that ATM based transactions account for over 50.0 percent of total electronic transactions, and that the share of these transactions is gradually increasing over time.
This rise in attributable to both the increasing number of ATM cardholders and the number of financial services offered through ATM's. Real time Online Banking Transactions are the second largest component of electronic transactions, with a share of 30.9 percent in FY10.
SBP revealed that transactions at POS terminals/machines account for nearly 8.0 percent of total electronic transactions, while transactions through internet, mobile banking and call centers, constitute only 2.2 percent of financial transactions.

I-9 Industrial Area: Steel Mills In Pakistan

Sector I-9 is one of the few sectors in Islamabad that is not purely residential. It has an industrial aspect in the shape of sub-sector I-9/3, most of the Steel Mills In Pakistan are situated there, the sector is also knows as Industrial Area I-9.
Boundaries are: Islamabad Dry port, Sector H-9(north), sector I-9/4 and I-9/1 residential areas, I-9 Markaz(south) sector I-8, 9th Avenue(east) and Sector I-10(west).
Industrial Area I-9 is known for its 'go downs'; some of the major national and multinational companies have their storage facilities located there. These companies include those dealing in electronics, heavy machinery, oil, and pharmaceuticals. Other bushiness come in the form of rice mills and steel mills.
The proximity of residential areas means that the Capital Development Authority imposes strict guidelines on industry owners with respect to environment protection. The roads and streets are especially wide so as to accommodate heavy traffic. The area is easily accessible through the major link roads, such as the Kashmir Highway, Islamabad Expressway and the IJP road. These roads also provide easy access to the Motorway.
Storage space can be bought and rented. Although sizes range from 1,111 to 5,555 square yards the most commonly available sizes are 2,700 and 3,300 square yards.

Prices:

• 2,700 square yards: 45 to 65 million rupees.
• 3,300 square yards: 55 to 75 million rupees.

Rentals are calculated on the basis of total covered area. The rental value ranges between 22 to 25 rupees per square foot.

The Property Ombudsman: About Ombudsman

The office of the Ombudsman came into existence by the President's Order No. 1 in 1983 and began functioning in August that year. The headquarters are located in Islamabad and there are regional offices in Dera Ismail Khan, Faisalabad, Karachi, Lahore, Multan, Peshawar, Quetta and Sukkur.

Working at both Federal and Provincial level, the function of the Ombudsman is to provide relief to citizens who have complaints against government functionaries and departments involved in malpractices. Currently, there is no "property Ombudsman" in Pakistan. to add transparency to the real estate sector, there is an urgent need that the four professional governments appoint a property ombudsman in order to provide low cost and speedy justice to people with grievances.
The Principle Duties Of A Property Ombudsman Will Be To:
1) Investigate complaints against buyers/sellers, landlords/tenants, estate agents/builders and developers, determine the facts and announce judgment after hearing the grievances of the parties in dispute.
2) Issue instructions for the payment of compensation to the complaints.
3) Help improve the functioning of the real estate sector by highlighting shortcoming related to the way documentation is handled.
4) Suggest measures to the government aimed at enhancing transparency in the way real estate transactions are conducted, as well as new laws aimed at eliminating illegal practices prevalent in the sector.

The New Real Estate Investment Trust Rules

Real Estate Investment trust (REIT) is a form of security listed on the stock exchange. They allow people to invest in major real estate projects. It was in 2008 that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP)issues regulations that enabled the formation of Real Estate Investment Trusts. in 2010, the SECP has issued modifications to those regulations to conform to the current market situation.
The new modifications include the following:
1) The minimum funding that has to be generated through a Real Estate Investment Trust has been reduced from five to two billion rupees.
2) the capital investment requirement from a Real Estate Investment Trust management Company (RMC) has been reduced from 500 to 200 million rupees.
3) A REIT may now develop and rent out a property ; earlier only development for sale purposes was permitted.
4) The RMC may now charge fees on a quarterly rather then an annual basis. The fees are based on the one percent of profit  the REIT earns from the sale of a project, or two percent from the REIT rental yield.
5) A single REIT may manage a single property by developing it for sale or renting it, or a mix of both.
These modifications have been made in order to offer flexibility and encourage small investors to form RMC's and launch Real Estate Investment Trusts, thereby making real estate investment a viable option. The first REIT is anticipated to become operational in 2011.

The Rise And Fall Of Dubai Property Market: Abu Dhabi Property Market

Prior to 199 the right to purchase property in Dubai was restricted to the citizens of Arab states that made up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). However, in 1999 when new residential and commercial projects was launched, the Dubai Government decided to open selected projects to foreign investment.
The policy makers were of the view that this measure would open doors to international property investors from France, Spain, the UK and US. They were right; and people from all over the world, including Pakistan, invested in the Dubai Property Market.
The peak period started in 2002 and saw Pakistanis invest more then US$10bn. According to the data available, 3290 property unites were booked by UAE nationals, 3243 by British nationals, 2510 by Pakistani nationals and 2450 by Indian nationals.
The third quarter of 2008 saw the Dubai market slump to unprecedented levels. This was due to a number of reasons including surplus supply, the hike in property prices, negative population growth, lack of mortgage facilities, defaulting buyers and the cancellation of many building projects by builders. By the end of 2008, foreign investors had disappeared from the Dubai market due to the global economic crunch.
Ever since, the glut in residential and commercial property has compelled owners to slash prices by more then 50%. Yet this too has failed to lure investors back, as they are anticipating a further decline in Dubai property prices in 2011.
TO make matters worse, the Dubai Government recently announced the imposition of a five percent tax on residential units and a 10% property tax on commercial units. This is in addition to the one percent transfer fee based on the selling price that is payable by the seller and purchaser of the Dubai property. Such taxation measures are bound to reduce the number of transactions taking place.
Stay in touch for the second part of the feature.

Buying And Selling Property: How To Sell Property In Reasonable Price:Tips On Selling Property

As the world wide slump in the real estate market continues, a definite trend in consumer behaviors has emerged which has seen more people interested in selling property rather then buying property.

In Pakistan, the stagnation in the market has considerable drop in both the purchase and the selling of property for a variety of reason including:
- The wide gap between the prices demanded by sellers and what buyers are willing to pay.
- The higher collector rates announced in the current budget.
In such a scenario, the question is what should people who wish to sell their property and do still obtain a reasonable price?
Property owners have two options:
1) Hold on to the property until the market picks up, which may be a few more years.
2) Sell the property immediately based on the higher offer made by a legitimate buyer.
One of the drawbacks of adopting the first option is the uncertainty attached to when better times will come and more importantly the fact that prices are unlikely to rise significantly any time in the future for sellers to make sizable profits.
The Second option on the other hand provides the opportunity for seller to not only sell their property at reasonable rates but to further invest the money earned from such sales in low prices property currently available in the market. The point is that in these slow times there are always some desperate property sellers willing to sell their property at bargain price and changing rates from seller to buyer is much easier to do now then under normal market conditions.

What Techniques Should A Credit Analyist Use For Consumer And Small Business Lending

There are some techniques which a credit analyst should use to assess the consumer(individual) and small business lending. Individual consumer loans are scored like mortgages, often without the borrower ever meeting the loan officer. Unlike the mortgage loans for which the focus is on property, however, non mortgage consumer loans focus on the individuals ability to repay. Thus credit scoring models for such loans would put more weight on personal characteristics such as annual gross income, the Total Debt Service score, and so on.
Small Business are more complicated for a credit analyst, because the FI is frequently asked to assume the credit risk of an individual whose business cash flows require considerable analysis, often with incomplete accounting information available to the credit analyst. The pay off for this analysis is also small, by definition, because loan principal amounts are usually small. A $50,000 loan with a 3% interest spread over the cost of funds provide only $1500 of gross revenues before loan loss provisions, monitoring costs, and allocation of overheads. This low profitability has cause many Financial Institution to built small business scoring model. These models often combined computer bases financial analysis of borrower financial statements with behavioral analysis of the owner of the small business.