KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan has allowed International Finance Corporation (IFC) to commence due diligence of Bank Alfalah for the purpose of considering the possibility of strategic minority investment in the bank.

On Tuesday, Bank Alfalah made a public announcement regarding the development and said that the SBP has granted regulatory approval to allow IFC for the due diligence.

The Bank has a network of over 570 branches spanning 196 cities with presence in Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bahrain in addition to a representative office in the UAE. The Bank provides services to more than 1 million corporate, retail, small business, agricultural, Islamic and asset financing customers.

Though it is not clear how much the IFC plans to invest, the move is encouraging for the banking industry. In the mid of last decade, banks attracted huge investment from abroad but the global financial crisis since 2007 and the slump in the economy since 2008 discouraged investment in the industry.

The banking industry remained profitable despite global financial crisis. No bank in Pakistan failed, though thousands of banks were closed globally in the aftermath of global financial crisis.

Bank Alfalah is the sixth largest player in Pakistan’s financial services industry, the second largest Islamic Bank and the largest issuer and acquirer of credit cards in the country.

Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2014