1.2 Four Official Modules & Source Map

The four typologies, quoted as NIBAF prints them

NIBAF's official page structures the program on four distinct typologies. Quote them verbatim in notes and in conversation with nominating HR. Do not rename them to 'Paper 1' or to ICC course titles.

1. Foreign Exchange Laws & Regulations in Pakistan
2. International Trade and Regulatory Requirement
3. Understanding Modalities of Foreign Currency Remittances
4. SBP FE Returns & Business Applications

NIBAF does not publish percentage weights. Study all four. The rest of this OpenExamPrep guide unpacks each typology into desk-level rules; this section is the source map so you know which book, circular, or ICC publication to open first.

Source map (current as of 20 September 2026)

Circulars override stale Manual text. The Manual on SBP's site is a consolidated working copy, not a frozen code. When EPD issues an FE Circular or Circular Letter, that instrument amends named paragraphs even if a printed photocopy on the desk still shows the old wording. FERA Notifications (the F.E. x/year-SB series) sit above both: they are statutory instruments. A 2016 WeBOC user-manual screenshot does not beat Notification No. F.E. 1/2021-SB (19 July 2021) or Notification No. F.E. 1/2022-SB (5 January 2022).

Module 1 — Foreign Exchange Laws & Regulations in Pakistan

Start with FERA 1947, then Chapter 1 of the Manual at https://www.sbp.org.pk/assets/document/Chapter-1-foreign-exchange-manual.pdf. Chapter 1, paragraph 1, says foreign exchange policy and its operations in Pakistan are formulated and regulated in accordance with FERA. That sentence is the whole course in one line: policy (EPD) plus operations (FEOD) under one Act.

Hold four statutory hooks:

• Section 3 — SBP may authorize a person to deal in foreign exchange. That person is the Authorized Dealer. An AD must comply with SBP's general or special directions and must not take a transaction outside the terms of authorization.
• Section 3B — SBP may suspend or cancel authorization if the AD contravenes a term of authorization, undertakes unauthorized activity, or attempts or assists a contravention of SBP directions.
• Section 4(3) — foreign exchange obtained for a stated purpose must be used only for that purpose, or resold to an AD. An importer who received dollars for machinery cannot quietly pay a related-party 'consultancy' invoice from the same stock.
• Section 23K — penalty up to Rs 500,000 per contravention plus Rs 10,000 per day continuing; directors, managers, officers, and agents can be deemed guilty.

Chapter 1 also tells you where to send the file. Policy, investment issues, and waivers from Manual/circular provisions go to the Director, EPD, I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi (Annexure A). Operational matters go to the Director, FEOD, SBP-BSC, or to the relevant FEOD field office (Annexure B). A Faisalabad branch that posts a policy-waiver request to the local FEOD field office has used the wrong inbox.

Module 2 — International Trade and Regulatory Requirement

This typology is the ICC stack. Pakistani ADs still examine LCs under Uniform Customs and Practice for Documentary Credits (UCP 600), document-examination practice under International Standard Banking Practice (ISBP), collections under Uniform Rules for Collections (URC 522), and sale-contract risk/cost transfer under Incoterms 2020. FERA does not rewrite those rulebooks; the AD applies them and still obeys SBP import/export instructions.

Desk-level anchors you will meet again in later chapters:

• UCP 600 Article 14 — a nominated bank, confirming bank, or issuing bank has a maximum of five banking days following the day of presentation to decide whether documents comply. The old UCP 500 'reasonable time' language is gone.
• UCP 600 Article 16 — refusal requires a single notice, listing each discrepancy, given by an expeditious means no later than the close of the fifth banking day. A Sialkot issuing bank that sends a second refusal two days later with a freshly noticed discrepancy has generally lost the right to rely on the omitted point.
• UCP 600 Article 27 — a bank will only accept a clean transport document; clauses that goods or packaging are defective are not 'clean.'
• UCP 600 Article 28 — insurance, where required, is typically for at least 110 percent of CIF/CIP value in the same currency as the credit.
• UCP 600 Articles 30, 36, and 38 — quantity/unit-price tolerances, force majeure, and transferable credits.
• URC 522 — documents against payment (DP) versus documents against acceptance (DA); remitting, collecting, and presenting banks.
• Incoterms 2020 — 11 rules; some are multimodal (including CIP), some are sea-and-inland-waterway only (including CIF). CIP default insurance is Institute Cargo Clauses (A); CIF default remains Clauses (C).

A Multan cotton LC issued subject to UCP 600 is still an SBP-supervised import. Document compliance under ICC rules does not waive cash-margin circulars, restricted-goods lists, or TBML price checks.

Module 3 — Understanding Modalities of Foreign Currency Remittances

Map this typology to the remittance chapters, then immediately overlay the March 2026 circular.

• Chapter 6 — private foreign currency accounts.
• Chapter 8 — non-resident rupee accounts.
• Chapter 10 — inward and outward remittances.
• Chapter 14 — commercial remittances (royalties, technical fees, and similar current-account payments).
• Chapter 16 — private remittances (education, medical, family maintenance, and related personal payments).

EPD Circular Letter No. 05 of 2026, dated 24 March 2026, titled Instructions regarding Foreign Currency Accounts and Non-resident Rupee Accounts, revises Chapter 6 paragraphs 8A/8B and Chapter 8 paragraphs 8/8A. Download the circular and its annexures. Do not recite pre-2026 FE-25 or NR rupee-account shortcuts from memory. An Islamabad private-banking officer who still quotes a 2024 FE-25 placement story as if it were current Chapter 6 law is studying a superseded paragraph.

Chapter 10 remains the spine for Pakistan Remittance Initiative-style inward flows, encashment, and purpose-code reporting. Chapter 14 is where a Lahore AD decides whether a franchise-fee invoice can be remitted under delegated authority or must go to EPD. Chapter 16 is where a student remittance is still a FE transaction, not a 'customer service exception.'

Module 4 — SBP FE Returns & Business Applications

This typology is the live pipeline: goods, data, and enforcement.

• Chapter 12 (Exports) plus Notification No. F.E. 1/2022-SB (5 January 2022) and FE Circular No. 01 of the same date: default realization is the due date of payment or 120 days from shipment, whichever is earlier. Sight/DP/CAD is 45 days; a 120-day usance LC may realize within 135 days; 180 days is a narrow exception only if export bills/receivables are discounted and sold forward before shipment or within 14 days of shipment. Shipping documents should reach the AD within 14 days of shipment.
• Chapter 13 (Imports): advance payment clocks (120 days for other goods, 730 days for plant and machinery), cash-margin circulars (lists move; learn the mechanism, not a frozen HS list), and PSW declarations under Notification No. F.E. 1/2021-SB (19 July 2021).
• Chapter 22: returns of all FE transactions, including International Transactions Reporting System (ITRS) purpose codes from SBP's Foreign Exchange Returns Code Guide. Incorrect or incomplete reporting attracts punitive action.
• Pakistan Single Window Act, 2021: electronic trader profiles and FIs via EDI replace consignment-wise EIF/EFE as the primary process. Open-account import/export generally needs no FI, except cash-margin cases. One FI may cover multiple GDs, and multiple FIs may cover one GD if value is short. PSW allows transfer of an FI from one AD to another only after that FI has been associated with at least one Goods Declaration — not by a casual email between banks.
• TBML framework: origin FE Circular No. 04 of 2019 (14 October 2019); current text is the revision issued with EPD Circular Letter No. 08 of 2025 (12 August 2025). ADs were told to update policies, processes, and systems by 31 October 2025. Teach the 2025 framework, and note the 2019 origin. Do not answer a 2026 item from the retired 2019 annex alone.

How to study the map on Monday morning

A Karachi export officer should keep four tabs open: Chapter 12 PDF, F.E. 1/2022-SB / FE Circular 01 of 2022, the PSW FI screen, and the latest EPD circulars list. If Chapter 12 still narrates WeBOC EFE steps, treat that narrative as residual for non-PSW channels, not as the primary PSW process. If Chapter 6 still shows a pre-March 2026 account rule, open EPD Circular Letter No. 05 of 2026 before you quote the paragraph to a customer.

That habit — Manual paragraph, then the circular that last touched it, then the PSW/ITRS screen that implements it — is the whole source map. Later chapters teach the paragraph-level rules; this chapter exists so you never study the wrong book for the named typology.