Jang.com.pk

MCB plans helipad for banking by billionaires

By Ibrahim Khan

KARACHI: The Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB), which crystal-gazes the future needs of high-flying billionaires, plans to provide a helipad atop its 27-storey headquarters on the ‘golden mile’ of Karachi, banking sources said on Wednesday.

"Yes! There is a proposal to set up a helipad atop its skyscrapper on the I.I. Chundrigar Road," said one official of the bank, on the promise of anonymity.

He politely refused to divulge the purpose of the proposed helipad, but one banker said the MCB plans banking in the skies keeping in view the future requirements of busy billionaires, who would like to hop in from the helipad at DHA’s under-construction ultra-modern Creek City facing the emerald waters of the Arabian Sea.

The ‘golden mile’, which experiences the worst type of traffic violations during the day, was becoming too crowded and often billionaires’ half-a-crore limousine is stuck up in the mad rush of rickety buses, yellow ‘devils’, noisy smoke-emitting rickshaws, donkey and camel carts, bicycle and jay-walkers, he said.

Highly educated and confident-looking talented people, who take split-second decisions, bejewel the "golden mile’ in the sprawling industrial port city of Karachi where some of them draw a salary of Rs500,000 per month plus enormous lucrative perks, analysts say.

In between the most famous landmark of the metropolis, Merewether Tower and PAF’s architectural modern model Shaheen Complex lies the most affluent road called Ismail Ibrahim Chundrigar Road. This is the district which houses the bourse and the headquarters of top business houses, clicking business of billions on telephones and computers churning out prints as a proof of the much-talked-about word ‘done’ - in other words business completed without the shake of hands.

The golden mile is studded with top business houses including the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), Karachi Cotton Association (KCA), shipping companies, IT whole-sellers, electronic markets, foreign exchange companies, textile conglomerates and rice export firms as well as commodities import and export houses.

The banks and financial institutions, which decorate the financial artery of the golden mile, include the State Bank of Pakistan, 22-storey Habib Bank Limited, National Bank of Pakistan, United Bank, Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, Faysal Bank and Deutsche Bank.

The ‘golden mile’ in the country’s financial capital turns over Pakistan’s economy and pumps some 70 per cent of the revenues in the government’s exchequer, one economist said.

"Some 70 per cent of financial and business deals in terms of value in Pakistan are clicked daily in the ‘golden mile’ in Karachi," said one banker.

In the middle of the ‘golden mile’ lies the MCB’s 27-storey (four below and 23 above the road-level) building, which has started a massive decoration within and outside the tallest banking building in Pakistan.

The building itself is a solid-proof of the remarkable success of the MCB, which won the Euromoney award 2003 for the "Best Bank in Pakistan" while working under the presidentship of Mohammad Aftab Manzoor.

In the 2003 annual report, bank’s Chairman Mian Mohammad Mansha, on behalf of its directors said: "The multifaceted activities undertaken by the bank, as I have highlighted in the previous years, have been a part of our strategy to meet the growing needs of our diversified customer segments, reduce costs and operate more efficiently, to manage risk and, more importantly, improve customer service.

This strategy has been yielding results as can be seen from the bank’s performance in recent times; I am confident the impact will be increasingly evident in the coming few years.

"I am pleased to advise that in the year under review, the combined impact of aggressively building asset volumes, containing costs and managing spreads and investments in a low rate environment, was achieved with a substantial positive impact on profitability," he said.

Focus on cash management, mutual fund, investment banking and structured finance are expected to strengthen our asset building and relationships with the customers. With introduction of more quality staff and investment in technology, corporate banking will reflect an increasingly responsive posture to our institutional customers.

Our strength continues to be in the mid market segment which we will continue to consolidate and grow. A large number of branches have been renovated and upgraded and staff have been provided improved training to cater to the needs of this segment. Apart from gearing up for expected higher funding requirements of the SME sector, increased focus will be given on agriculture financing and related areas.

On the Consumer Banking side, infrastructure in terms of premises, technology and staff skill set is being rapidly geared up. Focus of Consumer finance in 2004 will be to build volumes through key products keeping in view the market demand and risk aspects. Within a short span a few months MCB has become a dominant player in the Auto Finance market - in fact the product was repackaged and re-branded in January 2004 to meet our aim of market leadership.

As you are aware we are the leading issuer of ATM/Debit Cards with more than 525,000 cards, which continues to show a strong growth. The MCB debit card is the only card that can be used at ATMs and point of sale terminals abroad. In 2003, we introduced the debit facility for domestic usage a swell and deployed a countrywide network of terminals at thousands of merchant locations in major cities. With this service, customers will enjoy unmatched convenience and will not need to carry cash for purchasing. This expanding network will soon start accepting cards of other banks and brands.

Another major technology based initiative is the launch of Internet Banking with unmatched functionalities like funds transfer, bulk payments, personalised alerts, funds management etc. This has been recently introduced and the initial feedback, both from local and international customers, is indeed extremely encouraging.

The proposed technology platform SYMBOLS is in the final stages with implementation to commence this year. This multi-million-dollar initiative will not only improve the operational efficiency through consolidation and centralisation, but more importantly will give us the tools to enhance our customer service.

Our customer have been demanding Sharia compliant financial products and services for sometime. An Islamic banking branch commenced operations in Karachi and by the grace of God has developed good business volumes since inception. A comprehensive menu of Islamic Banking products is being offered. Independent Islamic Banking branches are planned to be rolled out to other cities in the current.

Focus on product menu, technology infrastructure and people will help us gain market share and increase customer satisfaction, however, our attention on proactive credit, operational and market risk management is paramount. In the perspective of the Basle Ii accord implementation in 2006/07 this becomes more important and we continue to develop and operate through specialised risk management teams to run the bank as per international prescribed benchmarks.

Financial results in brief:

(Rupees in ‘000)

2003 2002

Profit before tax 3,612,924 3,101,020

Profit after tax 2,230,145 1,738,594

Basic earnings per share Rs.11.79 Rs.5.67

—IK