By: Iqbal Ahmad Khan
The Advisory Council of the Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Awards Programme recognized the role played by MCB in developing systems and in driving innovation through the launch of new products and services such as the ability for its customers to make payments using mobile phones.

The Asian Banker Leadership Achievement Award is the highest award programme of its kind for individual and institutional achievement within the banking industry in Asia Pacific today.

The award of Strongest Bank was created as an adjunct to the Leadership Achievement programme to recognize the performance of the leader and the institution. The Asian Banker is pioneering this programme to help the investor and counter-party community in Europe and the US understand the features of strong domestic franchises that perhaps are not fully appreciated on the global stage.

Speaking at the event, Atif Bajwa stated that the banks board and its leadership team are proud to play a key role in building one of Pakistanis best-performing financial institutions that has seen a growth in profits, development of technology platforms and segmented offerings that have successfully taken the bank into new areas of innovation, specifically those related to offering transactional convenience.

MCB is one of the leading banks in Pakistan with a deposit base of Rs 368 Billion and total assets of over Rs 500 Billion. The Bank has a customer base of approximately 4 million, a nationwide distribution network of over 1,100 branches and over 450 ATMs. Based on its robust financial performance, healthy capitalization, high quality assets, and the countries lowest cost deposit franchise, MCB is ranked as one of the best banks in the region. The bank has also successfully attracted partnerships, in the form of an equity tie-up with Maybank, Malaysia s largest financial institution. Moreover it is Pakistan s 1st organization to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.