KARACHI, Nov 1: Doha Bank — the bank incorporated in the state of Qatar — has signed an agreement with the local bank — Trust Investment Bank Limited (Trust Bank), to amalgamate businesses in Pakistan.

The agreement unveiled by Trust Bank on Friday, stipulated that Doha Bank “desired” to induct Trust Bank as joint venture partner, by amalgamation into the locally incorporated banking company, subject to terms and conditions of agreement and necessary regulatory approvals. The arrangement would create a “locally incorporated banking company”, which would be a stock market listed entity.

Responsible officials of either of the concerned banks were not immediately available for comments but observers drew parallells between this and the recently concluded agreement between Mashreq Bank — the foreign bank operating in Pakistan — Crescent Investment Bank Limited (CresBank) and International Housing Finance Limited (IHFL), which had entered into a tie-up deal almost of the same kind.

Interestingly, although Doha Bank is the largest private commercial bank in the state of Qatar with around a dozen branches, the bank maintains just two overseas branches: one in New York and the other in Karachi. The consolidated accounts of Qatar Bank at June 30, 2002 showed total assets of overseas branches at QR 298 million and net branches loss for the latest six months ended June 30, 2002 at QR 232 thousand.

For the locally incorporated Trust Bank — in which around 42 per cent of the 10 million outstanding shares were held by five financial institutions and another 15 per cent by a non-resident shareholder at June 30, 2001 — this was the second major move directed at expansion of its equity base.

Earlier in July this year, Trust Bank had taken over the business formerly carried on by Pakistan Industrial Leasing Corporation (PILCORP) in an amalgamation deal in which shareholders of PILCORP were issued 1.70 shares of Rs10 each, in Trust Bank for every share of the same face value, held in PILCORP.

At the close of last financial year ended June 30, 2001, Trust Bank held Rs394 million in customer deposits; Rs101 million in net assets and Rs565 million in total assets.