Pakistan

Awards of Excellence
Asian regional awards

MCB comfortably wins Euromoney’s award for best bank in Pakistan over the past year. All of the country’s bankers, investors and analysts contacted plumped for the former Muslim Commercial Bank, which has expanded aggressively into new consumer and asset management businesses over the past year. It boasts one of the highest net interest margins and returns on assets in the sector, and one of the lowest cost-to-income ratios. "MCB is still way ahead of the field on any basis – from brand recognition to company growth to its improving margins," noted one prominent Pakistan-based banking rival. MCB, Pakistan’s fourth-largest bank, with an 8% market share, has had a busy year. In addition to launching new products, it raised $150 million in October 2006 by issuing global depositary receipts on the London Stock Exchange. The Karachi-based bank posted net income of PRs3.82 billion ($63 million) in the first quarter of 2007, up 19.2% year on year, with net interest income of PRs6.05 billion, up 21.8% over the previous year.