These views were expressed by them in the First Business Research Conference organised by Lahore School of Economics (LSE) here on Saturday. LSE Rector Shahid Amjad Chaudhry was also present on the occasion. They also said that conference would be helpful in understanding the diversified issues that were faced by the corporate sector of Pakistan. The first session of the conference was on Banking and Finance which was chaired by Dr Sohail Zafar.
Presenting his paper Associate Professor, Faculty of Business Administration, LSE, Dr Nawazish Mirza said that in his paper he tried to study the business dynamics, cost efficiency, asset quality and financial stability of Islamic banks, conventional banks and non banking financial institutions (NBFI's) in Pakistan. "The Sharia complaint products are expected demonstrate variations from conventional banking owing to structural differences. Similarly, NBFI's are expected have their own world vis-à-vis various business activities."
While discussing the findings of his paper, Mirza said his paper could not suggest significant differences among Islamic and conventional banks. He said that findings of his paper could be helpful in understanding various business aspects of financial intermediaries in Pakistan and highlight some areas where regulators could focus to improve over all fragility of the financial system.
Assistant Professor Faculty of Business Administration Dr Ayesha Afzal said larger banks were better diversified than smaller banks and it was understandable because of their outreach coupled with strong capacity to mobilise funds. She also said there was a strong policy implication for risk management that should be considered by the central bank. "In Pakistan the central bank is not aggressively pursuing the implementation of Basel 11. Initially, major propositions were scheduled to be adapted by 2008 but due to lack of technical expertise and inconsistent preparation on account of commercial banks, State Bank of Pakistan relaxed this deadline and now banks are allowed a transition to Basel 11 at the pace of their convenience. However, at minimum, SBP should seriously consider a transition of one size fits all standardised approach to internal rating based approach which provides diversification benefits in calculating regulatory capital," she said. She also said if banks got economic benefits from diversification they would attempt to diversify their portfolios that would lower the risk profile of credit portfolios enhancing the strength of the financial system.
Assistant Professor Suleman Dawood School of Business Lahore University of Management Sciences said her study was among the first few studies that had started investigating trust violations and recovery dynamics in the context of supervisor-subordinate relation ship. She said the study investigated issues among people who held real relationship. She said "future research can benefit by using variety of research methods and testing our propositions of trust restoration process."
Assistant Professor IB&M University of Engineering and Technology Dr Shakaib Akram said "we have to understand that e-government has yet to reach its full potential which can be achieved only when the gap between what is offered and promised and what is provided by the government and used by the citizens is bridged up."