Dubai: One of Pakistan’s largest private bank — Muslim Commercial Bank — is planning to open at least eight retail branches in the UAE, said Mian Mohammad Mansha, Group Chairman of the MCB.
Speaking to Gulf News at the official launch of the first wholesale banking branch of the MCB in Dubai, one of Pakistan’s richest men, Mansha said that Pakistan is going through an economic transformation. “Pakistan will be on the path of self reliance if it fixes income generating institutions such as railways and airlines,” he noted.
Mansha said that MCB’s presence in Dubai will further strengthen trade flows between the UAE and Pakistan,” he said. The bank, he added, would offer unique services for business accounts, mutual funds, stock market and life insurance with personal relations with the clients.
Mansha, who is also Chairman of the Niashat Group and is well known for his success stories in the banking and industrial sectors, said the bank with more than 1244 branches across Pakistan, has millions of customers and has now gone beyond Pakistan by marking with a footprint in the international market via its presence in Dubai. “We have plans to open at least eight retail branches in the UAE as soon as we get approval from the authorities concerned,” he said.
The MCB is already operating seven branches in Sri Lanka, one in Bahrain and one in Azerbaijan while the bank has been in a strategic foreign partnership with May bank in Malaysia since 2008.
Good financial services
The launch event was held at the Armani Hotel in Dubai on Thursday. Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development; Ishaq Dar, Finance Minister of Pakistan and Riaz Riazuddin, Deputy Governor of the SBP were also present on the occasion.
Speaking at the event, Dar also called upon other Pakistani banks to open branches in the UAE to further improve trade relations between the two countries. “Banks like MCB can provide good financial services to its customers especially the Pakistani community in the region,” he said.
Speaking at the event, Imran Maqbool, president of MCB, said that with the highest market capitalisation in Pakistan, MCB is known for its quality banking, services and professional management. “Its strategic presence in the UAE will help promote trade relations between the UAE business community and countries in Asia especially the Far Eastern corridor, where Maybank of Malaysia has a strong foothold,” he noted.
Shoaib Mumtaz, country manager of MCB in the UAE, said the branch is located in Karama and has got a good response from the business community.
MCB has maintained a stable presence in Pakistan since August 1948. In 1974 the bank was nationalised and then in April 1991, it was privatised again.
