Meezan Bank Limited, a publicly listed company, was incorporated on January 27, 1997 and started operations as an investment bank in August that year. In January, 2002 in an historic initiative, Meezan Bank was granted the country’s first full-fledged commercial banking license as a dedicated Islamic Bank, by the State Bank of Pakistan.

By implementing robust and aggressive strategic and tactical initiatives on the side of consumer banking, Meezan Bank aims to fulfil its prime objective of providing customers accessibility and convenience, within an atmosphere and culture of dedicated service and recognition of their needs.

Meezan Bank has clearly established itself as the leading Islamic Bank in Pakistan with the largest branch network in all major cities of the country. The banking sector is showing a significant paradigm shift away from traditional means of business and is catering to an increasingly astute and demanding financial consumer who is also becoming keenly aware of Islamic Banking.

During the eight years of its operation as an Islamic commercial bank (from 2002 to 2010), offering universal banking services to customers, Meezan Bank has been one of the fastest growing banks in the history of the country’s banking sector.  Average growth in deposits has been 55% per annum during this period while the branch network grew from 4 to 201. The bank has established a strong and credible management team comprised of experienced professionals, that have achieved a strong balance sheet with excellent operating profitability and strong ratios, which places the Bank at the top of the industry. The Bank has been assigned a medium to long-term entity rating of AA- and a short-term entity rating of A-1.

The Bank’s main shareholders are leading financial institutions of the Region namely, Noor Financial Investment Company,  Pak-Kuwait Investment Company, and the Islamic Development Bank of Jeddah. The established position, reputation, strength and stability, of these institutions add significant value to the Bank through Board representation and applied synergies.
 
The Bank has an internationally renowned Shariah Supervisory Board Chaired by Justice (Retd.) Maulana Muhammad Taqi Usmani, an internationally renowned figure in the field of Shariah, particularly Islamic Finance. He holds the position of Deputy Chairman at the Islamic Fiqh Academy, Jeddah and in his long and illustrious career has also served as a Judge in the Shariat Appellate Bench, Supreme Court of Pakistan. The Board also includes Sheikh Essam M. Ishaq (Bahrain), Dr. Abdul Sattar Abu Ghuddah (Saudi Arabia) and Dr. Imran Usmani who is also the resident Shariah Advisor of the Bank.  Dr. Imran is assisted by a team of professionals who strictly monitor the regular transactions of the Bank and are also responsible for Product Development.
 

Meezan Bank has a strong technology focus. It has invested heavily in state-of-the-art software applications – namely Temenos T-24 and Oracle.  It has also recently upgraded its hardware platform and also has a ‘hot’ disaster recovery site in place to cater to any unforeseen eventualities.