KARACHI: The Bank of Punjab (BoP) on Wednesday announced it’s going to acquire a strategic stake in NRSP Microfinance Bank from the National Rural Support Programme (NRSP), which owns a 57 per cent stake in the country’s fourth largest provider of microcredit in terms of the number of active borrowers.

A stock filing by BoP stated that the commercial bank was also willing to buy shares from the micro-lender’s other shareholders as well. “BoP has entered into a memorandum of understanding to proceed with high-level discussions with NRSP. Any actual investment by BoP will be subject to due diligence,” it said.

With 686,439 active borrowers at the end of September, NRSP Microfinance Bank holds a market share of 8.4pc and stands next to Mobilink Microfinance Bank, Khushhali Microfinance Bank and Akhuwat Islamic Microfinance as the largest provider of Shariah-compliant loans. It was the fifth largest provider of micro-credit in terms of the gross loan portfolio, which amounted to Rs29.9 billion at the end of the latest quarter.

Besides NRSP, which is backed by the federal government on the basis of a public-private partnership model, the shareholders of NRSP Microfinance Bank include International Finance Corporation (16pc), Societe De Promotion Et De Participation Pour La Coopration Economique (16pc) and Acumen Fund (11pc).

NRSP Microfinance Bank posted a net loss of Rs952 million in the first nine months of 2021 versus a net profit of Rs523.68m a year ago. The share price of BoP increased 0.12pc to Rs8.41 on Wednesday.

Published in Dawn, December 30th, 2021