The Bank of Khyber (BoK) has planned to open its branches in Afghanistan and Middle East under expansion plan to capture the fast growing investment opportunities and facilitate the expatriate Pakistanis belonging to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Addressing a press conference here Monday at BoK Head office, BoK Acting Managing Director Javed Hashmat said the bank would soon open its branches at Middle East and Afghanistan under its expansion vision 2018.
The bank would go for both Islamic and conventional banking system in the country and beyond boundaries especially in neigbouring Afghanistan and lucrative market of Middle East.
He said a team of experienced professionals would be inducted to strengthen management and achieve the desired goals set for 2018.
“We have the plan to retain the position among peer banks and improve the service quality through better customer care and management,” he added.
During the last five years (2008-12), he said that the bank had regained the confidence of national building departments including State Bank of Pakistan. The bank’s branches network rose from 34 to 77 and planned to open 21 more branches including eight Islamic and 13 conventional this year.
He said that the bank has developed and launched a variety of Islamic product for the benefits of customers and achieved record growth in deposit mobilisation which reached to Rs 60 billion from Rs 21 billion.
Hashmat said the bank achieved record growth in advances portfolio that has raised from Rs 10 billion to Rs 26 billion. In addition, the bank successfully handled various provincial government welfare schemes where the recovery rate was 99.5 percent. The bank also managed and adjusted long outstanding tax refund of Rs 527 million pending since 1994, he added.
