FBL offers dedicated Sharia compliant solutions: CEO

Faysal Bank Limited (FBL) Chief Financial Officer Syed Majid Ali Tuesday briefed the analyst community and shareholders about the bank's business strategy, financial performance and its outlook during a virtual corporate briefing session.

The bank has made significant progress on its strategy of conversion to an Islamic bank. 87% of the bank's branches are now offering dedicated sharia compliant financial solutions.

During 2020, despite wide ranging business and operational challenges posed by COVID-19, the bank converted 65 branches to Islamic which is a testament to its commitment of Islamic conversion, said a press release.

The bank continues to increase outreach to its customers and opened 21 new sharia compliant branches during the previous year. Alongside investment in brick-and-mortar infrastructure, the Banks is aggressively working on enhancing its suite of digital offerings.

In terms of financial performance, the FABL posted profit after tax of Rs6.5 billion for the year ended December 31, 2020, as compared to Rs6.0 billion last year. Islamic banking business contributed 40% share of profit.

The bank's net advances portfolio stood at Rs318 billion as at December 31, 2020 out of which 60% of the portfolio is Islamic. The deposit closed at Rs541 billion registering a healthy annual growth of 18.1%.

Faysal Assets Management Limited (FABL), turned a corner and posted profit after tax of Rs140 million during 2020 after incurring losses for a long time. The FAML is assigned asset management rating of AM2. VIS, the rating agency has recently revised outlook on rating from 'Stable' to 'Positive'.

The revision in rating outlook reflects improving market share, experienced top management and support from parent. Assets Under Management have shown remarkable growth of Rs39 billion from Rs7.8 billion to Rs47 billion since acquisition of control by FABL in November 2018.

Western Union (WU) is collaborating with Faysal Bank to enhance its realtime bank account payout network in Pakistan, a statement said.

Receivers of international money transfers in Pakistan would benefit from WU's real-time account payout capabilities via a far-reaching bank network in Pakistan, with Faysal Bank processing real-time transfers to more than 35 banks.

Faysal Bank is currently paying out WU international money transfers in local currency to customers via its retail network of more than 575 locations. An expanded agreement would enable the bank customers to receive money in real-time into their accounts, as well as to other banks across Pakistan.

Ali Badreddine, WU country director for Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, and South Sudan, said, "The only way we can keep up with demand is by advancing our technology through better innovation and partnerships, such as with Faysal Bank.