CDNS to be safeguarded against ill-gotten money, terror financing.

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) vowed to improve customer service delivery and to comply with Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations to safeguard interest of investors.

Asia Pacific Group in its recently published Mutual Evaluation Report (MER 2019) had pointed out a number of deficiencies on the part of CDNS in terms of compliance to FATF recommendations, which has negatively affected the overall grading of different recommendations. Banks under supervision of SBP have already put in place all required systems and KYC (Know Your Customer) processes to comply with FATF recommendations.

Finance Division through promulgation of National Savings Schemes (AML-CFT) Rules, 2019 has decided to engage an AML-CFT compliant bank, through competitive bidding, to put in place the requirement as well as the necessary training of employees of Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS).

Accordingly, expression of interest, in consultation with SBP, has been sought from the interested bank to conduct KYC and other requirement of new as well as existing clients of CDNS. This will include the biometric verification and screening of potential clients in UN Proscribed Person List. All these screenings are meant to stop any ill-gotten money to become part of financial system and to safeguard the valued investor from the menace of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing.

Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) as it stands today is one of the longstanding institutions in the country with a legacy of more than 140 years. The institution has always been a symbol of unshakable trust of the public. National Savings is playing its pivotal role to inculcate the Culture of Savings, facilitate Financial Inclusion and extending Social Security Net to the deserving sections of the society. Around 33 percent of CDNS deposits are in Welfare Schemes which attribute around 2 percent incremental rate of profit over and above other regular savings schemes.

Currently, CDNS manages portfolio...