RIYADH, June 25: Doha Bank is exiting Pakistan, the General Manager of the Bank Salah Jaidah was reported as saying by the Middle East Economic Digest. Jaidah, who took over as the General Manager of the bank in July 2001, said that Doha Bank was closing its Lahore Branch and had decided to sell its branch in Karachi to a Pakistani commercial bank.

Doha Bank is the second Gulf Bank in less than a month to announce plans to close operations in Pakistan. Emirates Bank International earlier announced it was selling its Pakistan branches to the United Bank.

Jaidah was in Karachi on June 14, finalizing the Pakistani divestment, when a powerful bomb blast rocked Karachi and killed 14 people.

He, however, emphasized that the move was a part of a long-term plan.

“We have been in the process of reducing our operations (in Pakistan) for last two years,” he said. “We are exiting as a branch business, but will keep some interests in Pakistan.”

Jaidah said that Doha Bank is to put more resources to boost activity through its branch in New York, which is based in 100 Wall Street.

“We are very serious about our New York branch. It is a profitable operation. It also provides a service for Qatari banks in New York and for other banks in other parts of the Arab world and Turkey. Doha Bank plans to promote the New York branch as a service provider to more Middle East banks.”

The bank is heading for record earnings in 2002. It reported an eight percent profit rise to Qatari Riyal 76.4 million ($21 million) in 2001 despite further heavy provisioning to comply with Qatar Central Bank regulations. “We are on track to report record earnings in 2002,” he added.