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28 March 2024

Pakistan's MCB Bank to tap UAE's SMEs

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar addresses the gathering at the launch of MCB Bank’s UAE branch on Thursday (Supplied)

Published
By Waheed Abbas

Pakistan’s MCB Bank has opened its first wholesale branch in UAE branch and looks to tap the small and medium businesses in the fast growing trade sector.

The bank – 20 per cent owned by Malaysia’s Maybank – has opened the branch in Dubai with focus on targeting companies involved in trading between the UAE and mainly Southeast Asian countries.

“We plan to tap trade linkages of Dubai’s trade with Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and other Asian countries,” said Muhtashim Ashai, Senior Executive Vice-President for Wholesale Banking at MCB Bank.

Regionally, the bank has presence only in Bahrain where it operates a full-fledged branch.

Talking to Emirates 24l7 after announcing the launch of the branch in Dubai, Mian Mohammad Mansha, Chairman of MCB Bank, said the Pakistan-listed lender is also looking at foraying into India, Iran, Afghanistan and Tanzania and also aims to make the African country as its hub for the region.

“We are looking at Afghanistan and then Tanzania, because we want to have a hub in Africa. And obviously the big thing that we all are looking at is that if the sanctions are lifted on Iran there will be plenty of opportunities in the region. And not the least we’ve also applied for banking licence in India, where we will have three branches in Mumbai, Delhi and Amritsar,” Mansha said, adding that Indian central bank the Reserve Bank of India has more or less processed its application but it’s stuck on the political side.

“We’re looking at tapping the cross-border trade by opening the branch in the three Indian cities. Pakistan had 65 per cent of total trade with India before 1965. Now we have a lot of indirect trade. Regionally, if we look at India, China, Afghanistan and other neighbouring countries there is a huge potential for growth in trade,” MCB chairman said.

In 2012, India and Pakistan had agreed to allow two banks each from both the countries to set up branches across the border. But last year the two agreed to increase it to three banks from each side.

MCB posted its highest profit-before-tax of Rs36.7 billion (Dh1.32 billion) during 2014, up by 14 per cent from a year earlier. It also received 10-15 per cent of Pakistan’s $15 billion remittances.

It operates 1,250 branches in Pakistan, seven in Sri Lanka and one in Azerbaijan.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Ishaq Dar urged other Pakistani financial institutions also to look outward for their next cycle of growth.

“I hope that other Pakistani banks will looking outward and tap the Pakistani diaspora present across the globe. Our banks have the expertise to provide the best service in their domain. Pakistan’s banking industry has done very well even during the last financial crisis,” Dar said.