Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO - HBL (Sitting on the left) and Aamir Ibrahim, CEO Jazz (Sitting on the Right) signing the agreement on behalf of two organizations.

Islamabad – 23 June 2021

Jazz has secured a PKR 50 billion syndicated credit facility from a banking consortium led by HBL. This 10-year facility will be used to finance the company’s ongoing 4G network rollouts and technology upgradation

This is the first of its kind facility extended to the Telecom sector in terms of the amount and tenor. The facility is fully subscribed by HBL, the consortium’s investment agent and mandated lead arranger. Other Banks who are also acting as the mandated lead arrangers and advisors on this deal include, United Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan, MCB Bank, Bank Alfalah, Allied Bank Limited, Askari Bank Limited, Bank of Punjab, Meezan Bank Limited and Faysal Bank Limited

As the country’s leading digital services provider, Jazz has over 69 million subscribers and more than 28 million 4G users nationwide. Over a period of two years, the company has invested USD 462 million on 4G infrastructure. The Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited (PACRA) has also recently upgraded Jazz’s long-term rating to ‘AA’ with a stable outlook, depicting the company’s strong financial depth in the industry.

HBL, Pakistan’s largest bank, was the first commercial bank to be established in Pakistan in 1947. Over the years, HBL has grown its branch network to over 1,650+ branches, 2,100+ ATMs and 54,000+ Konnect by HBL agents (branchless banking platform), serving over 23 million customers in 14 countries across the world.

“We continue to drive the digital Pakistan agenda by improving digital infrastructure, bridging the digital divide and focusing on financial inclusion. We are enabling societies by investing in entrepreneurship, digital skills and literacy. This facility is an integral step towards ensuring that people are not bound by the limitations of geography, gender, or socioeconomic background, in harnessing the power of the internet. A transaction of this size is a testament to the trust the financial community has on Jazz’s strong financial profile and its leadership position in the telecom industry,” said Gabor Kocsis, Chief Financial Officer, Jazz.

Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO - HBL commenting on the occasion stated, “We are delighted to have led this landmark transaction in the Telecom sector. HBL has a long-standing relationship with JAZZ spanning more than two decades. For the Bank, such transactions serve HBL’s strategic priority of supporting the promotion of digitalization across the country, while underscoring HBL’s commitment to stand by the robust and progressive Telecom sector of Pakistan.”

Karachi, 05 August 2021

HBL becomes the first bank in Pakistan to launch the Dynamic QR code transaction process. In partnership with Visa and Confiz, the new transaction process offers a seamless, safe and convenient payment mechanism for the customer.

Reinforcing its passion for customer-centric digital banking under the slogan of ‘more than just banking’, HBL Mobile and Konnect by HBL are tirelessly working towards developing a deeper understanding of customer needs in order to serve them better by offering them intuitive banking solutions.

The Dynamic QR code process will enable HBL Mobile, Konnect by HBL and other Visa QR issuing bank customers a “One scan solution” to process their payments. Customers no longer have to manually enter the transaction amount after scanning to make a payment. Through this new process, customers will only scan one QR code which will be printed on the in store POS receipt or displayed on the in-store POS terminal and all of their transaction details will be captured and processed automatically.

The new process is aimed at being both end-user friendly, and integrates with Microsoft Dynamics 365/AX; a leading ERP solution which is already implemented by several leading retail brands in Pakistan – some of these include: Alkaram Studio, Mothercare, Next, Debenhams, ELC and Timberland. The new ERP solution is a state of the art, easy to use, fully customizable, scalable system providing merchants and retailers real time visibility on synchronisation of services from inventory, orders, store-level sales to payments management. Previously, this was all being handled and updated manually with multiple reports being generated, that required cross functional teams to work round the clock and which was an extremely time and resource consuming activity. As part of launch for this project, HBL will be going live with AK Galleria for the Dynamic QR solution, their brands include Aldo, Babyshop, Mango, Splash & Women’s Secret.

Abrar Ahmed Mir, Chief Innovation and Financial Inclusion Officer – HBL, commenting on the new service said ‘’We are delighted to be the first bank in Pakistan to offer the dynamic Visa QR code transaction process with our partners Visa and Confiz. This is a further step to providing our mobile banking users with a more seamless and convenient payment solution. It benefits not only the end customer but also helps digitalise the supply chain thus creating more value for everyone.”

Kamil Khan , Visa’s Country Manager for Pakistan, also lauded HBL’s efforts in launching Dynamic QR code and said, “We are pleased to see innovative solutions being launched by HBL that offer a myriad of benefits to both merchants and consumers, in addition to driving digital payments acceptance in Pakistan. Integrated POS and Dynamic QR solutions have a global proven track record as they simplify the consumer experience as well as solve merchants operational limitations.”

Karachi, 9 August 2021

HBL partners with the Government of Sindh in their continuing efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic and encourage vaccination across the city. The Bank is facilitating the setting up of a COVID-19 Drive-through Vaccination Facility in Karachi.

The facility that is being set up will be located with-in the premises of the National Stadium, Karachi. The citizens will be able to avail this drive-through facility, free of charge.

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.”