HBL
Already the largest commercial bank in Pakistan, HBL’s main focus in 2017 was to power up its corporate lending business in the domestic market as it fought fires from regulators overseas.
Focusing on services, fleet financing and IT, HBL increased its commercial lending by 11% as of September 2017, compared to the previous year, and says its lending book has reached PRs50 billion ($450 million). That gives HBL a market share in corporate banking of around 15%.
Last year, HBL was fined $225 million by New York regulators for breaching anti-money laundering laws, a hit which also claimed the scalp of chief executive Nauman Dar.
Its ability to recover from this setback was helped by a solid 18% increase in its wider deposit base to PRs2.02 trillion up until September 2017 from the previous year.
HBL now boasts more than 10 million customers across the country; it banks most of Pakistan’s biggest companies. It has positioned itself to capture business flowing on from the $62 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, hiring a team of Chinese and local bankers to snare deals. HBL’s acting chief executive is Rayomond Kotwal.