Faysal Bank Partners With Mercantile Pakistan to Provide BNPL Facility

Karachi: Faysal Bank partnered with Mercantile Pakistan (Authorized Apple Distributor) to provide a facility of Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) at a zero percent profit rate to its customers using its payment cards

This is the first time in Pakistan that customers can avail BNPL facility to buy Official Apple products from authorized retail outlets. During the rollout phase, over 100 mercantile registered resellers will start offering Apple official products on 3, 6, 9 and 12 months’ easy instalment plans.

Mercantile products will also be available on Faysal Bank DigiMall, Faysal Bank’s Online Marketplace and via PIP options through call centers.

This partnership will enable easy payments for Faysal Bank customers via Mercantile Pakistan authorized channels while simultaneously leveraging on the Faysal Bank platform’s capacity to empower its authorized businesses through faster payment cycles.

In the last few years, BNPL has become an incredibly popular option amongst consumers enabling customers to obtain goods through flexible and interest-free payments offered in the form of a secure and seamless payment experience provided by merchants utilizing BNPL. This move will also enable the growth of the Ecommerce ecosystem at a domestic level enabling trust in pre-payments systems and quality, and goods & services.

Speaking at the Occasion, Mr. Aneeq Malik, “Head of Consumer Finance & Payment Services, Faysal Bank, said, “This partnership is a testament to our vision of empowering customers with flexible financing options. This card-led product will also enable to rekindle growth among the countless businesses of different sizes, during this period of continued economic uncertainty.”

Faysal Bank Eyes on Growth through Automation

Faysal Bank Limited (FBL) has always kept abreast with the latest developments in Digital Banking Technology and has aggressively implemented the same in all the segments, wherever required. In continuation of this endeavor In line with the bank’s core value of “Innovation” through Process automation, FBL Faysal Bank Limited has entered into Agreement with Messrs.

AKS IQ for the development and implementation of a state-of-the-art trade solution. The Innovative solution will help Faysal Bank execute Import and Export Transactions in a highly automated environment and provide flexibility to perform checks on price verifications, vessel tracking, dual use of goods etc. through pre-defined checks, validations, workflows and reference data sources.

The investment in the automation systems and processes will lead to significant improvement in overall service standards and improved customer experience while optimizing and helping bring risk levels significantly down. The Bank would be able to effectively manage the existing Risk portfolio, mitigate operation risk issues, compliance issues and also facilitate improve decision making across key departments through more robust data driven valuations.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Syed Muhammad Fraz Zaidi (Head of Operations) said, “For Faysal Bank, Digital and Technology as an enabler are key focus areas. We have invested significantly in this area and are now starting to reap the benefits. As we automate and digitize our products and services delivery mechanisms, we will be able to serve our customers even better and improve on efficiencies.”

FBL carries the highest local Sharia rating of SCFR1 by the International Islamic Rating Agency (IIRA) and provides the best and widest range of Shariah-compliant banking products and services to meet their customer’s Halal banking needs with convenience. With an expanding network of almost 700 Islamic branches, Faysal Bank has a footprint in 253 cities/towns across Pakistan.

Faysal Bank declared “Best Bank of the Year 2021” by CFA Society Pakistan

CFA Society Pakistan hosted the 19th edition of its prestigious Annual Excellence Awards in Karachi to recognize the outstanding performances of financial institutions, corporates and professionals. Faysal Bank Limited (FBL) was declared “Best Bank of the Year 2021” amongst mid-size banks of the country.

Mr. Yousaf Hussain – President & CEO, Faysal Bank Limited received the award from Mr. Jameel Ahmed – Governor, State Bank of Pakistan who graced the occasion as the Chief Guest.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Hussain said, “Alhamdolillah, we at Faysal Bank are honored and thankful to Allah Almighty for this coveted award. Our recognition today is a culmination of our journey of belief, planning, commitment and dedication, supported all the way by our Sponsors, Board of Directors, State Bank of Pakistan, employees and above all our customers.”

FBL carries the highest local Sharia rating of SCFR1 by the International Islamic Rating Agency and provides the best and widest range of Shariah compliant banking products and services to meet their customer’s Halal banking needs with convenience. With an expanding network of almost 700 Islamic branches, Faysal Bank has a footprint in 253 cities/towns across Pakistan.

Faysal Bank and Bank of Khyber, partner to offer Innovative Financial & Digital Payment Services

Faysal Bank Limited (FBL) and Bank of Khyber have partnered to launch a suite of digital financial services featuring virtual & debit card services along with added digital payment solutions. Faysal Bank through its Fintech Express Program is driven by creating partnerships with Banks and Fintech to further encourage State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) financial inclusion initiative in Pakistan.

Faysal Banks Fintech Express Program is focused on identifying financial institutions and aiding their customers’ digital journey through innovative technologies. With this partnership, Bank of Khyber will leverage Faysal Bank’s Fintech Express Program to accelerate the customers’ digital journey and provide its customer accessibility to a host of digital solutions to aid their banking needs.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Yousaf Hussain, CEO, FBL said, “Faysal Bank wants to be the cornerstone of the digital product revolution in Pakistan. We continue to focus on developing and strengthening ecosystem partnerships with multiple players that bring expertise and economies of scale in their respective domains. Faysal Bank’s agreement with Bank of Khyber demonstrates our commitment to facilitate other banks and startups in Pakistan.”

Speaking at the occasion, Mr.Ali Gulfaraz, ManagingFaysal Bank & TPL, Director and CEO, BoK, said, “Bank of Khyber is committed to delivering ease, convenience, and universal acceptability to our customers to transact and make payments across all channels. The partnership between Faysal Bank and Bank of Khyber will help us strengthen the BoK digital ecosystem by onboarding international payment schemes and digital services that will provide a comprehensive range of payment solutions to our customers”

The signing ceremony held at Faysal Bank, Karachi was also attended by Mr. Amin Ur Rahman, Chief Digital Officer and Fahad Mirza, Head of Digital Ecosystems & Partnerships, Faysal Bank Limited, and Mr. Asim Bashir, Group Head Digital & Consumer Banking from Bank of Khyber.

Faysal Bank Appreciates Government’s Intent to make Pakistan Interest-Free

Karachi – The announcement from the Ministry of Finance last week that it will advise the State Bank of Pakistan and National Bank to withdraw their appeal against the Federal Shariat Court’s decree to convert to an Islamic financial system comes as a welcome step. Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, announced that the government will be moving ahead to ensure the conversion to Islamic instruments by 2027 and has already initiated the process.

The Federal Shariat Court, in April 2022, had taken Faysal Bank’s example of a smooth transition to Islamic Financial Instruments (IFIs) as a strong model to follow and asked all banks in Pakistan to switch from the conventional model to the Islamic instruments to make Pakistan’s economy Riba-free. The following weeks saw many appeals being filed in the Supreme Court to stall or delay the process. The recent decision of the GoP to withdraw the appeal ensures the expedition of this journey towards a unified Islamic financial system in the country.

While appreciating the decision by the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, as potentially conducive to a better and stronger economy and Pakistan’s financial future, Yousaf Hussain, President & CEO, Faysal Bank Limited, stated, “Faysal Bank, having embarked on and now being on the verge conversion from a conventional to an Islamic Bank, is poised to assume the lead role within Pakistan’s banking and financial sector to facilitate the complete conversion from interest-based banking to a Shariah-compliant banking system.”

He further added that the national-level conversion, though a challenge, will be a game changer for Pakistan in enabling Riba-free economic progress. It has worked well, he said, in enabling Faysal Bank the expansion to almost 700 branches, including new customers, from previously unbanked segments of the population. A proud fact to note was the continuity of work, as throughout the process, not a single branch was closed, and neither was any day marked off. And all this while ensuring ongoing training and development to equip the FBL team with the requisite qualifications and skills. With this transformation, Faysal Bank has created a blueprint that can now be shared by the State Bank of Pakistan as a reference index. He expressed his gratitude to the Board, Senior Management, and employees of the bank for their resolve and commitment to this noble journey.

A special thank you, he said, is owed to the State Bank of Pakistan, and it’s Governor Jamil Ahmed, for their ongoing and unwavering support and for providing continuous access. The guidance from Shariah scholars was and will always remain the beacon for this journey onwards.

Faysal Bank Launches Donation Payments Feature via WhatsApp

Karachi – Faysal Bank Limited as part of its digital transformation journey has introduced a new innovative feature of Donation Payments via its WhatsApp banking channel.

Faysal Islami WhatsApp Banking enables its subscribers to make real-time donation payments to over 25 reputable charitable organizations such as SKMT, TCF, SIUT, Indus Hospital, Alamgir Welfare Trust and Pink Ribbon to mention only a few. The launch of the Donations Payments services through WhatsApp banking channel of Faysal Bank could not have come at a more opportune time as October is the month of breast cancer awareness and major donation drives towards this cause. Speaking on the occasion of the launch, Mr. Shaheryar Saeed Khan, Chief Digital Officer, Faysal Bank Limited said, “With the wide-spread use of the Faysal Islami WhatsApp channel, the Bank intends to better serve its diverse customers by introducing more and more innovative features to it”

Present at the occasion Mr. Omer Aftab, Chief Executive Officer, Pink Ribbon said, “The launch of this innovative feature by Faysal Bank Limited will enable us to promote the cause of breast cancer awareness and facilitating quick and easy donation payments by all”

The event was attended by other senior team members of both organizations.

Faysal Bank delivers exuberant performance – registers PKR 1 Trillion landmark

Karachi – FBL achieved the landmark of Rs. 1 Trillion mark in Balance Sheet footings with a record Profit Before Tax of Rs. 15.0 billion, 51% higher than the corresponding period last year

The Board of Directors of Faysal Bank Limited (FBL), in their meeting held on October 27, 2022, approved the financial statements of the Bank for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and announced an interim cash dividend of Rs. 5.50 per share i.e. 55%. This is in addition to interim cash dividend for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 already paid at Rs. 0.50 per share i.e. 5%.

Al-Hamdulillah, the Bank is very close to the completion of the requirements of converting Faysal Bank Limited into a full-fledged Islamic bank. Accordingly, all the Non-Shariah Compliant retained earnings of the Bank are being distributed to the shareholders as cash dividend.

FBL has delivered exuberant performance in the nine months of 2022 with a Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs. 15.0 billion, 51% higher than the Rs. 9.9 billion in the corresponding period last year. However, the increase in Profit After Tax (PAT) is restricted to 26% from Rs. 6.1 billion in 9m’21 to Rs. 7.7 billion in 9m’22 on the back of extremely high and retrospective tax measures announced in the Federal Budget.

FBL achieved the landmark of Rs. 1.0 trillion mark in balance sheet footings on the back of strong deposit mobilization and borrowings.

Current deposit momentum built over last several quarters continued and has reached Rs. 274 billion, 27% growth over December 2021. Total deposits increased by 13% over December 2021 with CASA mix improving to 80% from 75% at December 2021. FBL’s net advances increased by 18% to Rs. 468 billion, with the growth across all lending businesses and improvement in ADR to 65% as at September 2022. Despite the prevailing uncertainty, FBL is committed to its strategy for conversion into Islamic bank and have applied to SBP for issuance of Islamic Banking License.

The Bank continued to deliver on growth objectives and increased the total revenue by 33% over 9m’21 to Rs. 33.6 billion. Non markup expenses of the bank have increased by 27% over 9m’21 while the cost to income ratio has improved from 60% in 9m’21 to 57% in 9m’22. Net provision for 9m’22 reflected reversals of Rs. 0.7 billion while infection ratio continued to reduce and is at 4.6% with total coverage at 89.5%. FBL will continue to invest in expanding the footprints by network expansion and is planning to open another 50+ branches in Q4’22 with an objective to reach the branch network to 700+ by the end of this year. The bank will continue to reshape banking experience by improving the quality of customer service, providing innovative digital solutions and will continue to invest in modern technologies to improve digital offerings and customer experience.

Faysal Bank registers 32.5% growth in profit before tax for the half year ended June 30, 2022

The Board of Directors of Faysal Bank Limited, in their meeting held on August 25, 2022, approved the financial statements of the Bank for the half year ended June 30, 2022. The Board declared 5% interim cash dividend to the shareholders.

Profit before tax for the half year ended June 30, 2022 registered an impressive growth of 32.5% over the first half of 2021. The growth in profitability originated primarily from Bank’s focus on generating core customer deposits leading to 36.3% growth in its net markup income. Owing to broad based growth in fee income, the Bank’s non-markup income increased by 3.5% to PKR 4,424 million despite adverse stock market conditions prevailing throughout the period. Profit after tax increased by 9% to PKR 4,382 million over the corresponding period last year. Taxation, as a result of levy of 10% incremental tax on banking industry, was higher by PKR 867 million.

Total deposits of the Bank grew by 12.2% to PKR 722 billion as of June 30, 2022. Whereas advances grew by 19.7% to PKR 474 billion.

During the six months ended June 30, 2022 the Bank opened 27 new branches and converted 6 branches to Islamic. The Bank’s footprint now spreads over 223 cities across the country with 633 branches. In line with FBL’s strategy of transforming into a full-fledged Islamic Bank, Faysal Bank intends to apply to the State Bank of Pakistan for issuance of Islamic banking license later during the year.

The Bank will continue to invest in network expansion and is planning to open another 67 branches during the year. Alongside investment in branch infrastructure, the Bank is focused on providing innovative digital solutions to improve customer experience and bring cost efficiencies.