State Bank of Pakistan bans sale of Rs.40,000 Prize Bond

Karachi: The State Bank of Pakistan has banned the sale of old Rs40,000 Prize Bonds from today (Tuesday).The expiry date for enchantments of these bonds is March 31, 2020 after that the bonds will become useless since they would no longer  be included in draws.The SBP has also directed banks to stop selling old and unregistered Rs.40,000 Prize Bonds. According to State Bank, the bonds would be converted into Rs.40,000 Premium Prize Bonds and they can also be converted into saving certificates.APP adds Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Shabbar Zaidi Saturday said all the prize bonds worth Rs 40,000 would be registered till 2020 as it was mandatory.The unregistered prize bonds would be considered useless if not registered, he said talking to a private news channel.The chairman said the prize bonds of Rs 948 billion were still unregistered in the country and hectic efforts were being made to register them.Terming holding unregistered prize bonds as an unlawful act, he said it was imperative for the prize bonds holders to register them forthwith.The government on Thursday offered relaxation to the bearers of Rs40,000 denomination prize bonds, allowing the investors to register their unregistered bonds up to March 31, 2020.Following the decision of Economic Coordination Committee’s (ECC) of the cabinet, the holder of Rs40,000 denomination prize bond could take benefit of various facilities in registering their bonds, according to press statement issued by the Finance Ministry here.Rs 40,000 Bearer Prize Bonds could be converted to Premium Prize Bonds (Registered) through 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, and authorized branches of six commercial banks i.e. National Bank of Pakistan, United Bank Limited , MCB Bank Limited, Allied Bank Limited, Habib Bank Limited and Bank Alfalah Limited.In addition, the statement said, Rs.40,000 Bearer Prize Bonds holder can avail the opportunity to replace the bonds with Defence Saving Certificates (DSC) or Special Saving Certificates (SSC) through the 16 field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation, authorized commercial banks and National Savings Centres.