Year 2008 was a historical year for the Islamic Banking in Pakistan

Islamic Banking grew immensely in Pakistan in spite of the economical crisis.

Lahore: The year 2008 was the best and a landmark year for the Islamic Banking in Pakistan during which the Islamic Banking industry grew far more rapidly as compared to the previous year. During the year, with an addition of 217 Islamic Banking Branches, the number of branches went from 289 to 506 expanding the network to various cities. At the end of December 2007, Islamic Banking deposits and assets were estimated at Rs. 147 billion Rs. 206 billion respectively, whereas there was a drastic increase of 30% to 40% in the reserves during the year 2008. New Islamic Financial products were introduced during the year. The state Bank of Pakistan also issued guidelines for Agricultural Finance and Islamic Micro Finance which have been the milestones for introducing the Islamic Financial products at the Micro level.

These thoughts were expressed by Mr. Muhammad Zubair Mughal, C.E.O, AlHuda, Centre of Islamic Banking in a seminar on Islamic Banking.

He said that besides 6 complete Islamic Banks in Pakistan, there are 506 Islamic branches of 12 conventional banks operating throughout Pakistan which includes 161 branches of Meezan Bank, 25 of Dubai Islamic Bank, 40 of Emirates Global, 102 of Bank Islami, 5 of Soneri Bank, 4 of Habib Metropolitan Bank, 16 of Bank of Khyber, 18 of Askari Bank, 3 of Royal Bank of Scotland, 4 of Bank-al-Habib, 5 of UBL, 11 of SCB, 40 of Alfalah, 1 of Habib Bank, 30 of Al-Baraka, 21 of Dawud Islamic Bank, MCB 8 and 5 branches of NBP .

He further said that currently there is worldwide global financial crisis which has been a major reason for the bankruptcy of various Banks and Financial institutes but in spite of the fact the Islamic banking system is gaining momentum globally which is evident through the facts & figures for Islamic banking in Pakistan.