Bank Alfalah Explained

Bank Alfalah Limited
Former Name:Habib Credit & Exchange Bank Limited
Type:Public company
Traded As:
KSE 100 component
KSE 30 component
Industry:Banking
Location:Karachi, Pakistan
Key People:
  • H.H. Sheikh Nahayan Mabarak Al Nahayan (chairman)
  • Atif Aslam Bajwa (CEO)
Revenue: [1]
Revenue Year:2023
Income Year:2023
Net Income Year:2023
Assets Year:2023
Equity Year:2023
Owner:Abu Dhabi United Group
Num Employees:14,738
Num Employees Year:2023

Bank Alfalah Limited (Urdu: بینک الفلاح لمیٹڈ), formerly known as Habib Credit and Exchange Bank, is a Pakistani commercial bank headquartered in Karachi. It is a subsidiary of an Emirati conglomerate, Abu Dhabi United Group.[2]

It is one of the largest private banks in Pakistan with a network of more than 890 branches in more than 200 cities across Pakistan with an international presence in Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bahrain and UAE of 12 branches.[3] The Bank is listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange.

History

The roots of the bank go back to the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), which had three branches in Pakistan.[4] These were taken over by the State Bank of Pakistan to safeguard consumer interests, under a new identity of Habib Credit and Exchange Bank (HCEB).

In July 1997, the Abu Dhabi Group, led by Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan of Al-Nahyan Group, acquired a 70 percent stake in then Habib Credit & Exchange Bank (HCEB), a subsidiary of state-owned bank Habib Bank Limited.[5] The Privatisation Commission facilitated the sale of 42 million shares on July 7, with the transaction amounting to $40.54 million.[5] Later, it was renamed as Bank Alfalah Limited.[6] [7] [8]

Bank Alfalah was incorporated on 21 June 1997, as a public limited company under the Companies Ordinance 1984. Its banking operations commenced on November 1, 1997. The bank is engaged in commercial banking and related services as defined in the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962.[9]

In 2004, Bank Alfalah was listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, following an initial public offering at a strike price of PKR 40 per share.[10]

FinCEN

Bank Alfalah was named in the FinCEN leak, published by Buzzfeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). It had three suspicious transactions flagged for transactions close to 2.5 million dollars of 2 trillion dollars of suspicious payments made globally by banks in 170 countries. The three transactions occurred between 2011-2012.[11]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bank Alfalah Annual Report 2023. www.bankalfalah.com. 26 March 2024.
  2. Web site: Mohsin Tayebaly & Co.. 2020-12-06. mtclaw.com.pk. 2020-07-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20200726142339/http://mtclaw.com.pk/privatization.html. dead.
  3. Web site: 31 December 2022 . Bank Alfalah Annual Report 2022 . 22 November 2023 . Bank Alfalah.
  4. Web site: Is this the end of Abu Dhabi group in Pakistan? And who is to blame?. October 7, 2019. Profit by Pakistan Today.
  5. Web site: PAKISTAN: Bank privatisation goes ahead.
  6. Web site: Shahzad. Mirza. History and background of Bank Alfalah Limited. en.
  7. Web site: About Bank Alfalah. 2020-09-11. Bank Alfalah. en-US.
  8. Web site: Mohsin Tayebaly & Co.. 2020-09-11. mtclaw.com.pk. 2020-07-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20200726142339/http://mtclaw.com.pk/privatization.html. dead.
  9. Web site: Rising interest rates bolster profits at Bank Alfalah. Profit. 2020-02-24. Profit by Pakistan Today. en-US. 2020-06-01.
  10. Web site: Bank Alfalah IPO may be oversubscribed – Business Recorder.
  11. Web site: Report. Monitoring. 2020-09-21. Six Pakistani banks named in FinCEN leak. 2020-09-23. Profit by Pakistan Today. en-US.