Best Bank: MCB |
Amid the almost terminal instability threatening the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a few pillars of the business community have remained solid. One of these is certainly MCB, the banking group privatized in 1991 and controlled by the country’s richest man, Mian Mohammad Mansha. Voted best bank in Asia in 2008 by Euromoney, Pakistan’s largest private sector bank has experienced both change and consolidation in the past year. MCB sold a minority 20% stake to Maybank of Malaysia in summer 2008; since then, the two have been working together to expand into new markets, notably in the Middle East and North Africa, while boosting their united presence in the Islamic banking sector.