September 6th, 2013
Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic Bank and Akhuwat, the country’s leading non-profit organization that provides interest-free microfinance facility to micro-businesses, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for facilitating the implementation of a Musharakah-based financing model.
Under this MoU, Meezan Bank will support Akhuwat through providing Shariah advisory services as well as professional support in areas such as training, technical assistance, feasibility analysis, market research and development of business models and policies. Akhuwat will provide the facilities after conducting proper credit analysis of the business. Meezan Bank will also monitor the Musharakah’s performance and conduct its Shariah audit at regular intervals.
Mr. Ahmed Ali Siddiqui, Head of Product Development & Shariah Compliance at Meezan Bank and Dr. Muhammad Amjad Saqib, Executive Director of Akhuwat signed the MoU. The ceremony was also attended by Mr. Irfan Ali Bostan, Director of Pakistan Currency Exchange Co. Ltd. as Akhuwat’s representative and Mr. Ijaz Farooq, Group Head Branch Banking, Commercial & SME Business at Meezan Bank.
Both Meezan Bank & Akhuwat started their journies during the early years of this millennium in the field of Islamic banking & micro-financing respectively. Currently, Meezan Bank is Pakistan’s 8th largest bank in terms of branch network and 11th largest in terms of deposits and is recognized as Pakistan’s Islamic banking icon, both locally and internationally, while Akhuwat is currently operating the country’s largest Qarz-e-Hasna program and its contributions have been recognized at both national and international levels.
