I have by the Grace of the Almighty done an MBA from the USA, with a major in strategic marketing. After my studies, I joined Emirates Bank International with whom I was associated for over 13 years in key positions. During my working with Emirates, I had the opportunity of working overseas as well as in many major cities of the Punjab region, enabling an in-depth understanding and market reach. I joined Meezan Bank in 2002 on the official inauguration day of the bank. My fundamental responsibilities as Regional Manager include management of the Bank’s various corporate and retail branch functions in the Punjab; across Lahore, Multan, Faislabad, Sialkot and other cities of the Punjab. Today by the Grace of Almighty the Central Region includes 25 full fledged branches spread over 11 cities of the Punjab. We are proud of the fact that our Central Region is the fastest growing Region within the fastest growing Islamic Bank operating in Pakistan.

Meezan Bank Ltd has one of the largest offering of Shariah driven products and services under one roof. The bank has developed an extraordinary research and development capability by combining the skills of investment bankers, commercial bankers, Shariah scholars, legal experts and end product users that has led to the introduction of a diverse product range which satisfy business needs and meets world class service standards. Meezan Bank continues to educate and refine the market by offering various business value propositions in a transparent and open manner, in addition to addressing commonly asked questions about Islamic banking and how it differs from the conventional system.

Initially the Islamic banks will try to cover larger urban cities of Pakistan and gradually will start opening outlets in smaller towns and rural areas. Islamic banks currently are catering to a specific niche market – religiously inclined, the true essence of Islamic banking success will be when we start catering to the general consumer based on our excellent product offering as well as service standards. Our goal in 2007 is to increase the branch network to over 100 branches. I personally hold a very positive and optimistic view for the industry and can safely say that the only way is up.

Obviously the market leader or the top seed is always under the pressure to perform and outshine the competition. We feel we have positively thrived under this pressure yet our aim is to make sure that along with the growth of the bank there is also a substantial growth of the industry as a whole. Having the recognition of being the first and the largest dedicated Islamic bank in Pakistan, our team continues to build on the Vision of making “Islamic Banking the Banking of First choice of the consumer for their banking needs. One of the key objectives of the bank is to have its footprint strategically placed in all major as well as smaller cities of the country enabling the general public to avail the benefits of Shariah compliant banking on their door steps.

The overall banking sector of the country is now intensely focusing on Consumer financing as well as SME Financing. The same can be said for Meezan Bank also. All the branches are aggressively pursuing Consumer Finance relating to two products namely Car Ijarah (Islamic Auto Leasing) and Easy Home (Islamic Housing Finance). In the short span of a few years, our consumer business has achieved significant market share with high quality portfolios evidencing excellent risk parameters and negligible non performing cases (0.5% of total outstanding). The Car Ijarah business currently stands at PKR 3,150 Million and the bank has financed 6000 vehicles to date till December 2006. Similarly the total Home Finance portfolio stands at PKR 2,604 Million and the bank has financed 1,200 homes across Pakistan till December 2006.

Our goal as a bank in 2007 is to increase the branch network to over 100 branches from the present 62 branches. With respect to the Central Region we hope to establish upto 40 branches in 2007 from the present 25 branches. This strategy includes setting up branches in existing cities (e.g. Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan) as well as entering new virgin markets (as far as Islamic Banking is concerned) like Bahawalpur, Gujrat and others. Our strategy is to expand in cities where our service and brand is recognized but also to enter new markets where we get a head start advantage.     

The bank has worked hard to build its human resource team and ensure that the quality of the newly inducted staff is not compromised with growth. Senior management is invariably involved in the selection process to firstly evaluate the adequacy of job skills but also the Shariah mindset. As a result of the phenomenal growth in branches the total number of staff recruited during 2006 exceeded the banks total staff strength at the end of 2005. A key HR initiative has been the introduction of the GTO (Graduate Trainee Officers) as well as MTO (Management Trainee Officers)

• Trained HR requirements which are growing by the day.
• Enabling supervisory framework in transparency and disclosures, Risk Management, Corporate governance and Internal control systems.
• Unresolved Fiqhi issues.
• Liquidity needs as well as Inter Bank Islamic market fund.
• Credibility and sustainability

Meezan Bank Ltd was instrumental in bringing the concept of Takaful (Islamic Insurance) to the Pakistan market. Meezan Bank became the first customer of Takaful by signing the first Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Pak Kuwait Takaful Company Ltd (PKTCL) in 2005. With this the bank has gradually started shifting its Car Ijarah business to Takaful. Further it has been advised to the bank to transfer all other business to Takaful as soon as the Takaful products are made available.

Due to increasingly diverse needs of our corporate clients for advisory and structured finance transactions, a specialized unit focusing on Investment banking has been established. Islamic investment banking concerning Sukuk transactions is emerging as a market with huge potential and the bank has successfully concluded the following deals: