Bahrain-headquartered Albaraka Banking Group (ABG) said on Sunday that it had widened its scope of business in Pakistan with the creation of Rs.50 billion Al Baraka Bank Pakistan Limited (ABPL).
Al Baraka Islamic Bank Pakistan (AIBP), the branch operations of Al Baraka Islamic Bank (AIB) Bahrain and is a majority owned subsidiary of Al Baraka and Emirates Global Islamic Bank (Pakistan) had successfully merged their operations in Pakistan under the name ABPL. The head office of the new entity will be located in Karachi.
“ABPL will have assets in excess of Rs 50 billion, a workforce of 1400 professionals and a network of 89 branches in 36 cities and towns across the country. ABPL has commenced operations on 29th of October 2010 and consequently, all branches of AIBP and Emirates Global Islamic Bank will be re-branded as ABPL,” ABG in a statement said.
The merger, it added, a first in the Islamic banking sector in Pakistan, positions ABPL to play an important role in further growing an industry which has witnessed tremendous growth over the last five years. “Substantial capital resources, combined with a nationwide branch network will enable ABPL to provide a full range of Islamic banking services, supported by the experience and expertise of the parent company, ABG,” it said.
The operations of AIBP dates back to 1991, and at the time of merging its operations it had 29 branches across Pakistan, an asset base of Rs. 31billion and profit before tax of Rs.168million.
Emirates Global Islamic Bank began its operations in Pakistan in 2007 with principal shareholders being Emirates Investment Group (through Emirates Financial Holding Company) and Al Rajhi Investment Group (through Mal Al Khaleej Investment Company).
At the time of merger, EGIB had a 60 branch network located in 31 cities and towns throughout the country.
AIB is a subsidiary banking unit of ABG, Al Baraka Banking Group is a Bahrain Joint Stock Company listed on Bahrain and NASDAQ Dubai stock exchanges. It is a leading international Islamic bank with Standard & Poor’s long and short-term credit ratings of BBB- and A-3 respectively. Al Baraka Banking Group offers retail, corporate / investment banking and treasury services strictly in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari’a. The authorised capital of Al Baraka Banking Group is $1.5 billion, while total equity amounts to about $1.7 billion.
The Group has a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and representative offices in twelve countries, which in turn provide their services through more than 400 including Pakistan branches.