Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic Bank has released its third quarter financials as of September 30, 2007. The performance of the Bank during the period has been outstanding with significant growth in all areas of its business activities especially deposits, that grew by 75% over the corresponding period last year. The aggressive branch expansion plan, initiated last year, and an effective direct sales strategy has been mainly responsible for this meteoric growth. The total number of branches increased from a total of 28 in January 2006 to 75 in September 2007. This comprehensive branch network offers a comprehensive range of retail and wholesale banking products to a large customer base in more than 22 cities. The Branch network is supported by real time on-line banking, a network of over 50 ATMs, a 24/7 Call Centre and Internet Banking.

Despite the fast growth, the Bank adopted cautious and prudent financing policies and as a result maintained non-performing accounts at approximately 1.5% of the total financing portfolio which is amongst the lowest in the banking industry. This excellent asset quality is maintained across all business segments including the consumer financing business.

Despite the major investment in the Bank’s branch network and its technology platform, profitability remains robust. Post-tax profit to September 30th, 2007 was Rs 654 million compared to Rs 444 million in the corresponding nine months last year, reflecting an increase of 47%. Income from core banking business has also increased by 69%, maintaining the healthy trend of decreasing dependency to volatile non-banking income. Earnings Per Share (EPS) for the nine months increased to Rs 1.73 as compared to Rs 1.42 in corresponding period last year.
Meezan Bank’s mission is to provide its customers dedicated and pure Islamic Banking facilities with the greatest of convenience and personalized service with real time online branches in all major cities of the country. PR