PAKISTAN: Bank Alfalah & Abu Dhabi group is here to stay: CEO

The CEO of Bank Alfalah Limited dispelled any rumours that the Bank and Abu Dhabi Group is looking to exit Pakistan through divestment or sell-off. “On the contrary, the Bank is aggressively looking for growth opportunities in Pakistan which is evident from the expansion of its branch network all across Pakistan”, said Mr. Sirajuddin Aziz CEO of the bank.

He was addressing the members, investors, analysts & media representatives at the Corporate Briefing Program of Bank Alfalah held at the Lahore Stock Exchange. Mr. Aziz presented a detail overview of the Bank’s operations and also shared future expansion plans of the Bank.

Speaking on the occasion, he said that the Bank which started operation in 1997 with just 3 branches and virtually no banking infrastructure is today the 6th largest bank in Pakistan with 386 branches in 150 towns, over 400 billion rupees (4.8 billion US dollars) in assets and still growing rapidly. The bank is looking to open 24 more branches and is looking for opportunities to expand foreign operations in Hong Kong & Beijing in addition to Bangladesh, Afghanistan, UAE & Bahrain. The Bank also has the distinction of having the second largest Islamic Banking operations is Pakistan.

Mr. Aziz lauded the efforts of the current management & the directors of the Exchange in introducing such programs for increasing interaction between the investors and companies. The Corporate Briefing Program is an initiative of the LSE to increase market efficiency by removing information disparity in the marketplace. Market leaders are invited through this program to present their company’s performance and future plans to the investment public. The presentation by Bank Alfalah was the fifth program of this series that has received a lot of praise from the investment fraternity since its launch. Representatives of Engro Corporation, Nishat Group, Arif Habib Corporation and Treet Corporation have already organized their briefings under this program.

Mr. Aziz said that Bank Alfalah has a diverse range of local & global services that range from standard banking services to customized consumer & corporate products. Commenting on the perception of higher interest rate spreads being charged by the banks in Pakistan, he said that this issue requires more subjective analysis because while the older, more established banks have low cost assets, new comers or young banks such as Bank Alfalah has a much higher costs of deposits.

Commenting on the latest released financial results of the Bank, he said that despite the economic situation and mounting pressure on the banking sector due to circular debt, NPLs and 2010 floods, performance of Bank Alfalah Limited showed a positive trend in 1st quarter of 2011. Bank’s total deposits have increased by 7.3% to Rs.339.5 billion as on March 31, 2011. Bank’s annualized Return on Equity and Return on Assets has also improved to 18.45% and 0.91% as of March 31, 2011 compared to year end 2010 figures of 4.90% and 0.24% respectively. The Bank has been assigned a long term rating of AA and a short term rating of A1+ by the PACRA signifying high credit quality and very low credit risk.

Mr. Sirajuddin Aziz is a seasoned banker and has been serving as Chief Executive of Bank Alfalah for almost 4 years now. Bank Alfalah is part of Abu Dhabi Group, which has controlling interest in the Bank. The Group, besides banking, has investments in various sectors including telecom, asset management & insurance.

The Lahore Stock Exchange considered the innovation leader in the capital market of Pakistan has taken numerous initiatives in the past that have changed the way the capital market now operates in Pakistan. The Exchange has in the past too focused on increasing investors’ awareness & education level for the betterment of the market. Awareness road shows, seminars, briefings to economic journalists, Training Institute are some of the initiatives taken in the past in this regard. The Corporate Briefings Program is another step in this direction which has received much deserved praise from the investment community.