If JS Bank hadn’t existed when Covid-19 hit in 2020, Pakistan might have found itself scrambling to build something just like it. That is how impactful the bank’s corporate social responsibility outreach efforts proved to be as the pandemic upended the economy.
Chief executive Basir Shamsie’s management team deployed generous funds and resources to set up a drive-through vaccination centre in the Greater Karachi area. The bank made its cutting-edge QR code technology available to accelerate virus testing and vaccination registrations, and to automate medical services. The bank reached deep into its global contacts list to make World Health Organization-approved vaccines from Moderna, AstraZeneca and Sinovac widely available to the public.
Since then, Shamsie’s team has continued to raise the CSR bar in Pakistan. Take the bank’s rapid-response team: last year, JS Bank’s representatives and partners were on the ground when devastating floods affected more than 32 million people and caused more than 1,000 fatalities.
The bank mobilized its teams to launch a flood relief campaign, rendering assistance to the communities in Sehwan, Dadu, Larkana, Khairpur, Shahdadkot and other hard-hit areas.