Allied Bank
Allied Bank (ABL) is a quiet achiever in Pakistan’s bank corporate social responsibility efforts. It focuses on distant, low-profile and often-dangerous parts of the country, notably the backward and overlooked region of Balochistan in Pakistan’s remote west.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s poorest province, according to the United Nations Development Programme, with some regions showing 96% of the population living on less than $2 a day.
Allied Bank is led by Tahir Hassan Qureshi. In the last year, the bank has promoted financial inclusion programmes for Balochi farmers, while donating computers and education material to neglected schools across the province.
In the Balochi capital Quetta – one of Pakistan’s more dangerous cities, which is battling a long-running Islamist insurgency – the bank has upgraded sports facilities in an effort to rebuild broken communities.
In line with central bank directives on financial inclusion, ABL officers have also fanned out across Balochistan, conducting financial awareness seminars on small and medium-sized enterprises and agriculture financing. In southern Balochistan, the bank has also donated fully equipped ambulances to service struggling district hospitals.