Pakistan

Timing is everything when it comes to investing. So United Bank’s decision to bet big on building digital platforms in the two years before the pandemic hit was apposite.

Bank of Punjab is a commercial banking power that has acquired a solid reputation for serving clients and making markets in Pakistan, particularly in recent years after Zafar Masud took over as chief executive in early 2020.

HBL is Pakistan’s first commercial bank, having been set up in 1941, before moving its operations to the country in 1947 at the request of newly independent Pakistan’s first leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. It is now the nation’s largest private-sector bank, and winner of Asiamoney’s award for the best domestic bank in Pakistan this year.

MCB Bank, one of Pakistan’s oldest financial names, has travelled a rather circuitous path to become a corporate banking mainstay. It was founded in 1947 as a private-sector institution, then nationalized in 1974 and privatized in 1991. Shoaib Mumtaz, who was appointed chief executive at the end of 2021, has been with the bank since he joined a year after its privatization.

Since 1863, Standard Chartered has consistently brought the world to Pakistan’s lively economy. As fate would have it, the bank’s 150th year as a financial bridge to the south Asian market is proving to be among the toughest.

In January, local media buzzed with news of a partnership between Allied Bank, non-profit finance outfit Karandaaz Pakistan and tech firm Techlogix Mobility. The plan was to increase financial inclusion, one small and medium-sized enterprise at a time.

Imran Khan’s government was toppled in April, but it didn’t take long for its replacement to make a new deal with the IMF, just as many have done before. How can Pakistan break its IMF addiction?

Zafar Masud survived a plane crash a month after he took over as Bank of Punjab’s chief executive. The experience pushed him to double down on his beliefs – and take this regional Pakistani bank to the next level.