Meezan Bank, the first and largest Islamic Bank in Pakistan has successfully completed the acquisition of HSBC Pakistan over the weekend and all branches of HSBC opened today with the new purple Meezan look. "It is a historic day for Meezan Bank to have acquired the Pakistan business of one of the world's leading commercial Banks - HSBC", said Irfan Siddiqui, the founding President & CEO of Meezan Bank. He informed Business Recorder that Meezan will benefit from the international best practices and well trained and experienced staff who are joining Meezan Bank.

Meezan Bank is already the 8th largest network bank in Pakistan with 383 branches in 109 cities. Ever since its inception in 2002 it has recorded an unprecedented growth in all areas of banking, achieving a compounded annual growth rate of over 40% in both deposits and branches. Meezan Bank is largely owned by foreign Financial Institutions and has a total Capital in excess of Rs 20 billion, with the highest possible short term rating of A1+ (plus) and a long term rating of AA.

The acquisition of HSBC Pakistan was made through a Scheme of Amalgamation under section 48 of the Banking Companies ordinance 1962 and approved by the State Bank of Pakistan. Under the Scheme all customer accounts have automatically been transferred to Meezan Bank.

The acquisition has added 10 branches and an incremental deposit of Rs 23 billion. Siddiqui said that although these numbers are a very small proportion compared to Meezan's existing size, but our biggest advantage is the quality of financing and trade portfolio of HSBC Pakistan. He expects that Meezan will not only retain all HSBC Pakistan's customers, but further grow the financing book for all these customers as the Balance Sheet of Meezan provides a much bigger platform.

"By December end, our per-party ceiling will be around Rs 6 billion which is sizeable for Pakistan's market". This, coupled with products such as Corporate Internet Banking and Cash Management Solutions, will Insha'Allah provide a great customer experience to all the HSBC customers" said Siddiqui.

When asked about Shariah-compliance, Siddiqui was confident that the entire business of HSBC Pakistan will be converted into the various Shariah-compliant products offered by Meezan Bank under the overall direction of the Bank's Shariah Supervisory Board and the Islamic Banking Division of the State Bank of Pakistan.

He informed Business Recorder that this is not the first time that Meezan has acquired a foreign conventional commercial bank. Right at its inception in 2002, Meezan had acquired the business of Society Generale Pakistan, comprising of 4 branches and a similar Shariah conversion exercise was successfully undertaken.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2014