Meezan Bank will be acquiring the banking business of HSBC Bank Oman in Pakistan for an undisclosed amount.
HSBC Bank Oman only operates one branch in Pakistan that had gross assets worth PKR4.1bn ($40m) at the end of the first quarter.
Meezan bank had earlier acquired Pakistan branch operations of HSBC Bank Middle East in October last year. As reported in Reuters, this sale was part of the bank’s strategy to move out of countries where its businesses are either in red or not making any profit.
HSBC Holdings owns 51% of the operations of HSBC Bank Oman that has units in Oman, Pakistan and India. However, the bank had announced its decision to sell its Indian and Pakistani banking units in 2012.
The bank has already agreed to sell its Indian operations to Doha Bank.
The current deal that is expected to be completed in the second half of the year is subject to regulatory and other approvals.
Meezan Bank operates 444 branches across the country and is considered to be one of the largest Islamic banks in the country.
Apart from HSBC Bank Pakistan and HSBC Bank Oman, Europe’s Barclays Bank has also exited the Pakistani market by selling its operations to Habib Bank recently.
Image: The deal is expected to be completed by the second quarter of 2015. Photo: courtesy of adamr/ freedigitalphotos.net.