Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO - HBL (standing second from right), Muhammad Afaq Khan, Head Islamic Banking – HBL (standing first from left), along with customers and other representatives of the Bank at the inauguration of the HBL Islamic Banking Commercial Centre, Trade Hub and Branch, on I.I Chundrigar Road, Karachi

​Karachi, 16 February 2021:

HBL Islamic Banking inaugurated a dedicated HBL Islamic Commercial Centre, Trade Hub and Branch on I.I. Chundrigar Road, Karachi, the heart of the country’s financial hub. HBL is Pakistan’s largest commercial bank with over 1700 branches, and its Islamic Banking arm that provide Shariah compliant financial services from over 911 branches/windows nationwide.

Liaqat Ali Khan, a branch teller who has been part of the HBL family for more than 41 years cut the inauguration ribbon. Present at the ceremony were Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO - HBL and Muhammad Afaq Khan, Head – Islamic Banking, along with customers and other senior leaders from the Bank.

Commenting on the branch opening, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO, HBL said, “HBL Islamic Banking continues to expand its footprint across the country. The demand for Shariah compliant banking solutions and services has seen a sharp increase, and this expansion allows us to serve our clients and customers with tailor made financial solutions while maintaining our lead as the eminent Islamic Banking player in the industry.”

Remarking on the multifunctional branch opening, Afaq Khan, Head of Islamic Banking, HBL said, “As Pakistan’s largest bank it is our responsibility to extend the outreach of Shariah compliant Islamic Banking products and services to our customers. We have grown the Islamic Banking branch network exponentially in the last six months, and will add another 200 dedicated Islamic branches and expand our coverage to over 300 cities this year.”

​HBL enables its customers to pay for their Honda cars directly using HBL Mobile! The Bank is at the forefront of digitalizing financial services in Pakistan through its technology driven initiatives. Digital payments adoption, especially through mobile apps and wallets have been growing at a very fast pace across Pakistan.

Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Limited aspires to expand the horizons to provide customer convenience through its numerous products, which can now be realized through digital payments directly from HBL Mobile.

“Purchasing a car is not just a matter of convenience in Pakistan, a household brand name such as Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Limited enables consumers to lock in value, while servicing customer needs for years to come. Enabling car purchases through HBL Mobile without the need to visit the bank branch will thus prove to be a milestone for the customers looking to invest in their future with a new purchase” said Mr. Amir Nazir, General Manager- Sales & Marketing, Honda Atlas Cars Limited.

Commenting on this partnership, Aamir Irshad, Head Corporate, Commercial & Investment Banking - HBL, said: “Honda Atlas Cars Pakistan Limited has been dealing with HBL for a long time, and Honda is a premier brand in the market. HBL and Honda take great pride in facilitating customers with convenience, security and reliability by enabling them to use digital channels to make these payments. This is a first for Pakistan’s digital payments landscape, and we are proud to be partnering with Honda.”

E-commerce businesses and their customers can now benefit from increased payment flexibility

Karachi, 03 August 2021

HBL and National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) have signed an agreement enabling account-based payments to HBL Pay’s (IPG) e-commerce merchants through NIFT’s ePay (DFS platform). E-Commerce merchants using HBL Pay will now benefit from increased payment flexibility, as they will be able to offer direct, straight-from-bank-account payment options to all of their customers. The agreement will also allow HBL account holders to make payments to merchants on boarded on NIFT ePay Platform.

Until now, e-commerce merchants who used HBL Pay for payment processing, allowed their customers to make either card-based transactions using Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay and PayPak debit / credit cards or card-less (directly from bank accounts) transactions for HBL account holders. Going forward, all such merchants would be able to offer their customers account based payments from all of NIFT’s banking partners. Similarly, e-commerce merchants who use NIFT ePay for payment processing, will be able to collect payments through HBL account holders along with other banking partners.

Speaking on the occasion, Abrar Mir, Chief Innovation and Financial Inclusion Officer – HBL, said: “This partnership is another step in our journey towards achieving our goal of transforming the online shopping experience for customers. Through this partnership, we are now empowering individuals by enabling inclusion of all those account holders of other banks who are currently excluded from e-commerce shopping opportunity because of no access to a debit or credit card. We strongly believe this will also open up a much wider customer base for our e-commerce merchants and result in a true win-win partnership for everyone in the ecosystem. With a focus on facilitating the end customers and e-commerce merchants, HBL Pay has now enabled account-based payments for NIFT’s partner banks through our Internet Payment Gateway.

Meanwhile Haider Wahab, CEO of NIFT said, “Pakistan’s digital ecosystem is finally maturing as its established institutions such as HBL, partner with newer players such as NIFT in order to continuously make the process of payments easier, cheaper and safer for all customers. We look forward to working with our partner banks and HBL Pay to expand the e-commerce and digital payments space further in the years to come.”

Both, HBL and NIFT, believe that this enablement would further accelerate the digitalization of commerce across Pakistan. Banks, aggregators, payment processors and e-commerce merchants – in essence the entire ecosystem – would benefit from a much-expanded customer base. Overall, we expect this arrangement to impact over +90 million bank account and digital wallet users in Pakistan.

Karachi, 4 January, 2021:

Naymat Collateral Management Company Ltd (NCMCL), Pakistan’s first collateral management company, has joined forces with HBL for the development of Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWR) ecosystem in the country. Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWR), the first of its kind in Pakistan, is a digital instrument which gives financial institutions real time information and access to farmers, traders, processors and aggregators who have placed their produce in an accredited warehouse, significantly reducing transaction costs and operational risks.​

Through this agreement, HBL and NCMCL will work towards poverty alleviation and enhanced inclusive growth targeted towards the rural population of Pakistan. This partnership will ensure that rural communities get easy access to finance.​

Kashif Umar Thanvi, Head - Rural Banking, HBL commented, “HBL is a market leader in farmer finance amongst commercial banks. The Bank has actively partnered with farmers across Pakistan for the timely provision of financial services to achieve the common objective of better crop yields and enhanced farm productivity. HBL is excited to partner with Naymat Collateral Management Company as this newly developed ecosystem will enhance financing to farmers and rural communities.” ​

​Speaking on the occasion, Naveed Qazi – CEO, NCMCL stated, “Through this agreement, price anomalies that exist in the agricultural value chain will be eliminated and will save the small holder farmer from the distress sale of commodities.”

Jawad Zahoor Khan, CEO- PSDF (sitting on left), Aamir Kureshi, Head Consumer, Rural and SME Banking – HBL (sitting on right) at the signing ceremony along with Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO - HBL (standing third from right) and representatives from both the organisations.

Karachi, 15 February, 2021: ​

Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Pakistan’s largest commercial bank has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Punjab Skill Development Fund (PSDF), the largest skills development fund in Pakistan. The MoU was signed by Aamir Kureshi - Head Consumer, Rural & SME Banking, HBL and Jawad Zahoor Khan, CEO, PSDF.

Present at the ceremony were Muhammad Aurangzeb - President & CEO, HBL and other senior executives from both organizations.

In line with the Government of Pakistan’s vision of creating 10 million jobs, the Prime Minister’s Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme has been developed under the banner of “Kamyab Jawan”. The purpose of the scheme is to shape the future and well-being of Pakistani youth by giving them access to skills training so they can find sustainable employment and income-generating opportunities

Commenting on the signing, Aamir Kureshi, Head Consumer, Rural & SME Banking, HBL said, “HBL has always supported the national agenda vis-à-vis Pakistan’s economic growth and social uplift. Through this partnership, HBL will provide loans to capable young men and women under the “Kamyab Jawan” scheme which will enable them to run their businesses and create further employment opportunities within the country.”

Jawad Zahoor, CEO, PSDF stated,” PSDF is the largest skill development fund in Pakistan and has a solid track record of skilling youth and linking them to income generation opportunities.

Though our partnership with HBL, PSDF will ensure that the youth is well trained in the technical and entrepreneurial skills to enhance their ability to secure loans under “Kamyab Jawan” and utilize them effectively to run successful businesses.”

Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO - HBL (Left) and Qasif Shahid, CEO and Co-Founder (seated on Right) signing the agreement between the two organizations. Umer Munawer, COO and Co-Founder and Monis Rahman, Chairman and Co-Founder (standing Left to Right) were also present at the occasion.

​Karachi, May 27, 2021

HBL becomes the first bank in Pakistan to invest in a digital fintech startup with its Rs. 176 Million (USD 1.15 Million) participation in the last tranche of Finja’s Rs. 1.56 billion (USD10.15 Million) Series A1 round. HBL joins an impressive list of leading global fintech funds that have invested in Finja including BeeNext, Vostok Emerging Finance, Quona Capital, and ICU Ventures. All investors from previous rounds topped up their investment in Finja’s Series A1 round.

For HBL, an investment in Finja serves two of the bank’s strategic priorities, namely, making investments into Digital Financial Inclusion and Development Finance companies, especially ones making an impact in agriculture and SMEs as these are the backbone of the economy, and proactively reinventing HBL to become a “technology company with a banking license”.

Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in April last year, Finja has scaled its digital lending portfolio by 550% disbursing over 50,000 digital loans to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). Despite being the backbone of the economy, small businesses in Pakistan have traditionally not been able to obtain credit to grow.

“We are elated to have HBL participate in this funding round. Our ground-breaking success in digitally scoring undocumented small businesses has resulted in a 64% month-on-month portfolio growth for us since the outbreak of the pandemic earlier this year. Undoubtedly, HBL’s financial clout, massive network and progressive leadership will help us elevate the country’s most important segment, the SMEs,” said Qasif Shahid, CEO and Co-Founder Finja.

“These loans are critical for Pakistan’s economic growth. Our productive loans result in a 40% increase in SME revenue with less than a 1% default rate,” added Monis Rahman, Chairman and Co-Founder Finja.

Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO – HBL, commenting on the occasion said, “We are delighted to be investing in FINJA. Pakistan’s fintech landscape has immense opportunities. At HBL we believe that by making this investment we are not only developing the Startup ecosystem, but it will also pave the way for Pakistan to play a bigger role in the fintech space globally. SME lending is the future and therefore we are investing in Finja which enjoys a first mover advantage over the market in digitally lending to SMEs in this country.”

Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO - HBL (sitting right) and Air Marshal Arshad Malik, CEO – PIA (sitting left) at the signing ceremony along with Sultan Ali Allana, Chairman - HBL (standing 6th from right) and senior representatives from both the organizations.

Karachi, 03 August 2021

Pakistan’s national flag carrier - PIA and the country’s largest bank- HBL signed an agreement to offer HBL clients an exclusive discount on all their international and domestic travel tickets

The agreement was signed between Air Marshal Arshad Malik, Chief Executive Officer – PIA and Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO – HBL. Present at the ceremony were Sultan Ali Allana, Chairman – HBL and senior managers from both the organizations.

HBL and PIA have a longstanding relationship that is spread over numerous successfully executed transactions. HBL stands as PIA’s leading banking partner and the preferred service provider for PIA’s banking needs at home and abroad. HBL’s partnership with the National Carrier ranges across multiple product lines including nationwide collections, payments and payroll management, point of sale (POS) systems and trade finance. The two organizations have also worked together on various offshore and local financing solutions including HBL’s recent participation in the syndicated USD denominated long term financing facility and PIA’s latest SUKUK offering.

This alliance will allow HBL Debit and Credit Card holders to enjoy exclusive discounts on their domestic and international travel via PIA. The national flag carrier has a vision to promote tourism in Pakistan, especially the beautiful natural landscapes that the country has to offer. HBL being the market leader in the Debit and Credit Card market, with the highest number of card holders will help bring this vision to life. Transactions can be made both at the PIA booking offices (domestic and international) as well as through its corporate website, making the process convenient and seamless for the customers.

During the quarter, the Bank’s credit ratings were re-affirmed by VIS Credit Rating Company Ltd at AAA/A-1+ for long term and short term respectively. The rating of its TFCs issued as Additional Tier 1 Capital have been reaffirmed as AA+. The Outlook on all ratings is Stable.

Air Marshal Arshad Malik congratulated both the teams for creating a new dimension in air travel in the country. Speaking on the occasion, he said, “PIA is following a comprehensive restructuring plan to turnaround the stature of the national flag carrier. We are en route to resurgence despite the recent challenges, and this is only possible with an enhanced focus on partnerships and alliances with organizations like HBL.” He said that PIA and HBL are long term partners and natural allies, and it is about time we join hands to promote tourism across the country. He termed Sultan Ali Allana, Chairman - HBL as a great friend of PIA and a guiding beacon for the corporate sectors of Pakistan.

Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO – HBL, commenting on the occasion said “We are delighted to have entered into this strategic partnership with PIA. HBL has long-standing relationship with PIA. This alliance will make travel more rewarding for our customers and it is another step towards HBL’s commitment to support the national agenda to promote travel and tourism across Pakistan.”

​Karachi, April 22, 2021

HBL becomes the first bank to enable PayPak e-Commerce acceptance on its Internet Payment Gateway (IPG). The gateway that currently services over 400+ e-Commerce merchants, will allow PayPak cardholders to securely perform transactions with e-Commerce merchants via HBL.​

​HBL and 1LINK take pride in expanding financial inclusion across the country and believe that such initiatives will prove to be a milestone for not just PayPak users, but also for the development of Pakistan’s digital payments and e-commerce landscape.

​On the occasion, Mr. Najeeb Agrawalla, CEO 1LINK, commented: “HBL has always been at the forefront of digitization and we value our partnership with HBL. This enablement brings PayPak one step closer to ubiquitous acceptance across the digital payment channels, of which e-Commerce is the new normal in the wake of the pandemic. With 3D secure functionality, all 4 million plus PayPak cardholders will have the confidence to use HBL acquiring and adopt e-Commerce transactions. We congratulate HBL on becoming the first acquiring bank accepting PayPak e-commerce payments.”

​Mr. Abrar Mir, Chief Innovation and Financial Inclusion Officer - HBL, said: “HBL is proud to become the first acquiring bank that will enable PayPak users to use an e-commerce platform. The Bank’s Internet Payment Gateway is now equipped to facilitate merchants who will accept transactions from PayPak card holders, thereby digitally empowering them to shop online. HBL aims to be an organization that empowers its customers to have the ability to form eco-system partnerships and deliver scalable solutions in a secure and compliant manner.”

Jehan Ara, Founder & CEO Katalyst Labs (sitting on the right) and Ali Habib, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, HBL (sitting on the left) signing the agreement on behalf of their organizations.

​Karachi, May 24, 2021

HBL and Katalyst Labs have signed a strategic partnership agreement for Startup Acceleration and Women Leadership enablement. This will further build and strengthen the entrepreneurial ecosystem of the country.

HBL is shaping the future through a paradigm shift towards a ‘Technology company with a banking license’. The Bank aims to form ecosystem partnerships and deliver scalable solutions to customers. The end goal remains to be a customer centric bank that is quick to pivot as opportunities present themselves by being a Mobile first, Data enabled, inclusive and agile organization.

Katalyst Labs is a technology accelerator and innovation hub, founded by Jehan Ara who along with her team has played a key role in building the entrepreneurship ecosystem of Pakistan.

As part of the partnership, Katalyst Labs will develop and run a cohort-based fellowship program for women entrepreneurs, professionals, and upcoming business leaders with the purpose of training them and helping them develop into a high-powered network of women leaders across the country.

An acceleration program will also be run with an aim to have an increased focus on facilitating collaboration between start-ups and corporates for knowledge sharing and market exploration with special focus on Fintech, Food & Agri Tech, mCommerce, EdTech, Health Tech and other verticals.

Commenting on the partnership, Ali Habib, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, HBL said, “We are delighted to enter into this partnership with Katalyst Labs. The programs will enable HBL to build and support a community of start-up founders, technology developers and service design experts with a special focus on Women Entrepreneurs. Interaction and knowledge sharing of the best talent within and outside HBL will help spark innovation. “

Commenting on the partnership, Jehan Ara, Founder & CEO Katalyst Labs said, “When ecosystem builders like ourselves want to continue to support and enable dreamers and innovators who are out to conquer the world through the use of tech, we look to partners who can help us realise our vision. And we have never had to look far because HBL has always been the first to understand what we are trying to do and provide their full support. This partnership with Katalyst Labs is further proof of this unflinching and continuing support.”