Regional Development Finance Corporation and Small Business Finance Corporation (Amalgamation and Conversion) Ordinance, 2001

This 2001 ordinance merged two government-owned development finance institutions, the Regional Development Finance Corporation (established 1985) and the Small Business Finance Corporation (established 1972), and converted the combined entity into a public limited company. Section 3 required the Federal Government, within ninety days of the ordinance's promulgation, to prepare, in consultation with both corporations and their shareholders, a scheme for the amalgamation.

Section 4 required the Federal Government to form and register the new company under the Companies Ordinance, 1984, exempting it from registration fees and, per Section 4(4), from stamp duty on the transfer of assets or on shares and securities issued to former shareholders. Section 5 provided for the Federal Government to issue an order vesting all assets, contracts, liabilities, and proceedings of both corporations in the new company on a specified effective date, identified in a footnote as 1 January 2001, allotting shares to former shareholders and debenture-holders in proportion to their holdings, and dissolving the two original corporations.

Section 6 let the company continue taking and holding existing deposits and carrying on the lending and other business of the two predecessor corporations, while it applied to the State Bank of Pakistan for a banking licence, and allowed the company to use the word "bank" in its name. Section 7 automatically transferred permanent employees who had at least one year's continuous service to the new company on their existing terms, though transferred employees were not entitled to any compensation for the transfer.

Section 8 continued all existing contracts and pending legal proceedings involving either corporation as if they were now against or by the new company. Section 9 barred any court or tribunal from questioning actions taken under the ordinance, and Section 10 gave indemnity for good-faith actions. Section 11 made the ordinance override other conflicting laws or agreements. Section 13 let the Federal Government resolve implementation difficulties by order, but only within two years of the ordinance coming into force. Section 14 repealed the original Regional Development Finance Corporation Ordinance, 1985, and Small Business Finance Corporation Act, 1972, as of the effective date.