 |
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. Total assets continue to rise at MCB, up 3% in the first quarter of 2009 to Rs456 billion ($5.7 billion). First-quarter 2009 results were also strong, with earnings up 8% year on year in the first three months, to Rs6.24 billion. While other Pakistan lenders, such as Allied Bank and UBL, continue to make gains, eating into MCB’s lead, the process is slow. Even the bank’s direct peers grudgingly accept MCB’s pre-eminence. “They’re still ahead of the rest,” says a rival banker. “Better managed, better systems, better IT, better on-the-ground presence, better retail banking.” Another notes that the bank’s 1,000-strong branch network allied to its technologically pioneering nature and strength in the SME sector makes it “hard to touch” for probably the next “two or three years at least”.
Now boasting one of the most unwieldy names in the securities business, Bank of America Merrill Lynch/KASB Securities nonetheless again deserves this award with room to spare. A financial advisory founded in 1958 by Khadim Ali Shah Bukhari, which recently sold a stake in its funds outfit to its US partner, it is still the most powerful capital markets advisory business at work in Pakistan – but only just. What activity there was over the past year was mostly snaffled by the Karachi-based firm. One notable deal was a sale of London-listed global depositary receipts in May 2008, which raised $109.3 million for Lucky Cement, Pakistan’s leading cement maker. The securities firm was also involved in the August 2008 initial public offering of domestic chemicals maker Descon Oxychem, and advised Maybank of Malaysia on its 2008 acquisition of a stake in Pakistan lender MCB. Overall, however, Pakistan’s capital markets remain as inactive as the country’s security situation is turbulent, and next year could again see investment banks scratching around for deals.
