KARACHI, June 5: Isbank, the largest Turkish bank, has succeeded to get permission to conduct due diligence of HSBC Pakistan operations, banking sources told Dawn on Tuesday.

While the economy has been showing poor performance the financial sector seems to have some attractions for the foreigners and the interest shown by the Turkish bank is an encouraging sign, the sources remarked.

The HSBC has been looking for a potential buyer to sell off its Pakistan operations as part of its global strategy to concentrate more on profitable economies.

The State Bank last month allowed KASB Finance to conduct due diligence of the foreign bank while refusing top local banks interested in acquiring HSBC operations.

The report of HSBC departure plan sent a wave of disappointment in the banking industry as they felt the departure could be a message for other foreign banks to quit.

Isbank is the largest Turkish bank having presence in United Kingdom, Bahrain, Iraq, The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Germany, Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Bulgaria, Russia, China and Egypt.

Foreign banks operating in Pakistan have been earning profits, even the HSBC Pakistan operation is a profitable venture.

Unlike Pakistani banks, the non-performing loans of the foreign banks are much less than the local private banks as their NPLs rose to over Rs600 billion which slashed their profitability.