History of Askari Bank Ltd

Askari Bank was incorporated in Pakistan on October 9, 1991, as a public limited company. It commenced operation on April 1, 1992, and is principally engaged in the business of banking, as defined in the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962. The Bank is listed on Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad Stock Exchanges. The registered office of the Bank is situated at AWT Plaza, the Mall, Rawalpindi. The bank obtained its business commencement certificate on February 26, 1991 and started operations from April, 1992. Army Welfare Trust directly and indirectly holds a significant portion of the Bank s share capital at the period end. The Bank has 235 Branches 234 in Pakistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir, including 31 Islamic Banking branches, 16 sub-branches and a Wholesale Bank Branch in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A shared network of 4,401 online ATMs covering all major cities in Pakistan supports the delivery channels for customer service.

Vision
To be the bank of first choice in the region

Mission
To be the leading bank in Pakistan with an international presence, delivering quality service through innovative technology and effective human resource management in a modern and progressive organizational culture of meritocracy, maintaining high ethical and professional standards, while providing enhanced value to all our stakeholders, and contributing to society

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Best Retail Bank in Pakistan by The Asian Banker.

 "1st Consumer Choice Award" by the Consumer Association of Pakistan. 2004  "Corporate Excellence Award" by the Management Association of Pakistan (MAP). 2002, 2003 & 2004.   The Best Bank in Pakistan by Global Finance magazine. 2001 and 2002. Best Consumer Internet Bank Global Finance magazine. 2002 and 2003.

 "Euro money and Asia money Awards" 1994, 1996 and 1997.   Best Presented Annual Accounts by (ICAP) and (ICAMP). 2000, 2001and 2002. The Best Presented Annual Accounts by South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA), in the SAARC region. The Best Consumer Banking Award 2006 by the Consumer Association of Pakistan. 2007 The Best Retail Banking Award 2008 by Pakistan Guarantee Export Corporation Ltd. 2008

 "Best Corporate Report Award for the year 2008" by ICAP & ICMAP. 2008.

Organizational Breakdown Structure

Work Breakdown Structure

Lt. Gen. Javed Iqbal HI (M) Chairman Board of Directors Lt. Gen, Javed Iqbal joined the Board of Directors on May 23, 2011. He was commissioned in Pakistan Army in March 1979 and has had a distinguished career spanning a period of more than 32 years. He possesses MSc (Strategic Studies) degree from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He has worked on various command and staff assignments during his illustrious career in the Pakistan Army. He has been General Officer Commanding of two Divisions besides having been Director General Military Operations Directorate. He is currently serving as Adjutant General (AG) of Pakistan Army.

Lt. Gen. (R) Imtiaz Hussain HI (M) Chairman Executive Committee

Lt. Gen. (R) Imtiaz Hussain joined the Board of Directors on January 1, 2009. He is currently Managing Director of Army Welfare Trust. He is a graduate of Command & Staff College Quetta and National Defense University, Islamabad. Also, he qualified as MSc (War Studies) from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. He was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 1971 and had a distinguished career spanning over a period of more than 37 years. He has worked on various command, staff & instructional assignments in his illustrious career including Command of an Infantry Division and Corps. He has also served as Director General Doctrine and Evolution, Director General Weapons and Equipment, and Adjutant General of Pakistan Army before retiring in October 2008.

Mr. Zafar Alam Khan Sumbal Director

Mr. Zafar Alam Khan Sumbal is one of the founder directors of the Bank. He is a post graduate in Economics and holds a vast experience in banking and finance spanning over 37 years both in Pakistan and abroad. He has also worked as Company Secretary of the Bank till April 2005 before elevated to his current position of Director Corporate by the Board of Directors of the Bank. He also holds a position of Chief Executive Officer of one of the projects of Army Welfare Trust. He is on the Board of Directors of Askari Leasing Limited as well.

Dr. Bashir Ahmad Khan Director

Dr. Bashir Ahmad Khan joined the Board of Directors on March 28, 2008. He has more than 20 years of academic and professional experience and is presently working as professor of finance and head of department of business studies at Forman Christian (FC) College. He taught at the Suleman Dawood School of Business at Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) for 18 years, where he was also associate dean of executive education. He has played a key role in the launch of both customer-specific and open enrolment executive education programs for various institutions & companies. His current responsibilities include strategic and financial planning, budgeting, human resource management, and business development. He has been a financial and management consultant for various commercial and non-commercial organizations. He has also been on the Policy Board of the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan and a member of the board of Askari Investment Management Limited, a subsidiary of Askari Bank.

Mr. Shahid Mahmud Director

Mr. Shahid Mahmud joined the Board of Directors of the Bank on September 1, 2008. He holds a Master Degree in Defense & Strategic Studies from National Defense University along with more than 25 years of professional experience in the field of IT & communications. He is presently working as Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Communication (Pvt) Limited and Interactive Convergence (Pvt) Limited. He has been the founder director and shareholder of Paktel, Indus Vision, Pak Globalstar (Pvt) Limited, SHOA (Pvt) Limited, and Shaheen Pay TV (Pvt) Limited. Mr. Shahid is an Eisenhower fellow and its honorary life member. He is also a member & founder member of various organizations. He has attended numerous training sessions and seminars for strategic management, marketing, market research and analysis, distribution and supply chain management, material management, change acceleration process, electric commerce, information technology, telecommunications, media and various other product systems in various countries including USA, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada & Pakistan.

Mr. Mohammad Riyazul Haque Director

Mr. Mohammad Riyazul Haque joined the Board of Directors of the Bank on September 1, 2008. He holds master's degrees in Development Economics [Williams College, USA]; Economic and Social Sciences [University of Manchester]; and English [GCU, Lahore]. He joined the Government of Pakistan in 1966. He has worked in all the provinces of Pakistan, and in districts, as Secretary to the Government of Baluchistan, as Joint Secretary in the President and the PM secretariat and in EAD, and as Additional Secretary [Banking and Foreign Exchange]. He has been a director on the boards of HBL, and of Pak-Kuwait and Saudi -Pak Investment companies. Mr. Haque worked as international professional staff for the Asian Development Bank in several countries. He was Team Leader for project development, processing, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation, of development projects, and of institutions including banks. He led the production of policy documents and instruction manuals. He has led delegations of GOP with international financial institutions, and of the ADB with other countries. He has worked as a consultant with UNDP. Mr. Haque has attended a large number of conferences and other moots in Pakistan and abroad, has been a member of professional societies, actively associated with think tanks and social groups and has travelled abroad extensively.

Mr. Ali Noormahomed Rattansey Director

Mr. Ali Noormahomed Rattansey joined the Board of Directors on September 1, 2008. He has 38 years of working experience. He is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and has been associated with A. F. Ferguson & Co. Chartered Accountants, Pakistan for 31 years (including 23 years as a partner). He has extensive experience in audit, accounting, tax and financial and corporate consultancy, with significant exposure to Pakistan corporate sector including subsidiaries of multinational companies operating in Pakistan. He is also a director of New Jubilee Insurance Company Limited and New Jubilee Life Insurance Company Limited, and chairman of Aga Khan Rural Support Programme. He has participated in numerous trainings, workshops & seminars related to Audit, Finance & Management.

MALIK RIFFAT MAHMOOD Director

Malik Riffat Mahmood joined the Board of Directors on August 26, 2011.Malik Riffat Mahmood is a Chartered Accountant by profession and has hands on experience of strategic planning, with proven skills of translating strategic vision into workable action plans. He is Director Finance on the Board of Army Welfare Trust (AWT), a conglomerate of more than 20 companies/projects. He is also member of the Board of Directors of other Companies of AWT Group like Cement, Aviation, Information Technology, Real Estate, Lubricant, Sugar and Agriculture. He has also attended various professional trainings.

Mr. Wazir Ali Khoja Director

Mr Wazir Ali Khoja, Chairman/Managing Director National Investment Trust (Ltd) is a seasoned Banker with more than 32 years of professional experience in the field of Banking, Finance and Mutual Fund Industry. Having started his career from Muslim Commercial Bank in 1965, as a manager, Mr Khoja worked up his way to become Senior Executive Vice President in 1996. He was the Head of HR Division besides being responsible for managing retail banking products and Sports Division. Being a commerce graduate his main area of expertise has been Project Finance, Equity Market Operations and Treasury affairs. By virtue of his proactive leadership, management skills and teamwork approach he had successfully turned around MCB branches in the Sind Province into profit during his tenure as General Manager. As Chief of sports Division at MCB, Mr. Khoja contributed in identifying and grooming young talent of the country to compete internationally in cricket, hockey and football. He also holds the position as member Governing Body of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Mr. Khoja was also Deputy Managing Director of NIT during 1994-95. Presently he is member on the Boards of prestigious institutions i.e, SSGCL, SNGPL, Bank Al Habib Ltd, Askari Bank Ltd, Habib Metropolitan Bank Ltd, Shell Pakistan, Fauji Fertilizer Company Ltd, Pak Telecom Mobile Ltd & etc. Mr Khoja is a graduate from University of Sindh.

Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi Director

Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi joined the Board of Directors of the Bank on March 29, 2011 He holds Master's degree in Business Administration from Bahauddin Zakriya University Multan along with different professional courses from Stratchlyde Business School, Glasgow, United Kingdom. He joined the family owned business Mahmood Group of Industries in 1991. He has vast experience in leading different Government, Semi Government and Public Limited Companies. He has successfully launched a number of projects and they are now very profitable ventures. Currently apart from various industrial units, he is also director in Pakistan International Airlines, Punjab Industrial Development Management Company, Chairman of All Pakistan Bed sheets and Upholstery Manufacturers Association and Chairman, Board of Management, Nishter Hospital and Medical College Multan. He has been Caretaker Minister for Industries (Punjab), Director, President of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industries & DG Khan Chamber of Commerce and Industries. He has participated in large number of business delegations and travelled extensively all parts of the world.

Mr. M. A. Ghazali Marghoob Senior Vice President

Mr. M. A. Ghazali Marghoob is working as SVP Company Secretary of the Bank. He is the Secretary to all other sub committees of the Board. He brings with him a diversified experience spanning over 25 years in the field of Finance & Corporate Affairs in Banking & Services Industry. He started his professional career with Marriot Hotel as Assistant Finance Controller and later on worked in Saudi Paki Industrial & Agricultural Investment Company as CFO & Company Secretary. Prior to joining Askari Bank Limited, he was working as CFO & Company Secretary at SME Bank Limited. Mr. Marghoob is a Chartered Accountant by profession and fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, Institute of Corporate Secretaries of Pakistan and Institute of Public Finance Accountants.

Mr. Muhammad Rafiquddin Mehkari President & Chief Executive

Mr. M. R. Mehkari with 39 years of international and domestic banking experience and currently serving Askari Bank in the position of the President and Chief Executive. He is one of the pioneer members of Askari Bank. In 1971, he started his career with UBL and in December 1974, joined the erstwhile BCCI and served at National Bank of Oman, a subsidiary of BCCI, till 1992. He carries extensive experience in all banking dimensions including operations, treasury, fund management and investment banking, in international and domestic banks. He joined State Bank of Pakistan on secondment and performed as Director, Exchange Policy Department from April 2000 to April 2004, where he took several major initiatives like liberalizing Foreign Exchange Regime etc. He was also a member of Corporate Management Team and Monetary & Exchange Rate Policy Committee at State Bank of Pakistan. Mr. Mehkari is also a member on the board of Khushali Bank and Askari Investment Management Limited, a subsidiary of Askari Bank. He participated in various courses and seminars on foreign exchange exposure & treasury management, money market and other banking areas of operations in Pakistan and abroad.

Executive Profile
Mr. Tahir Aziz Senior Executive Vice President
Mr. Tahir Aziz holds overall responsibility for the bank s Corporate & Investment Banking Group (CIBG) that provides all products and services to the bank s large institutional customers, through a structured relationship manager based model under a single umbrella. This includes the provision of products and services that may be required for customers daily business needs, as well as relating to their strategic requirements e.g. advisory, syndications, project finance and capital markets. Mr. Aziz joined Askari in 2005, and was responsible for successfully establishing its investment banking business and to position it as one of the key market player in the country. He was also responsible for the formation of the Corporate Banking as a distinct business from Commercial/Branch Banking, and positioning it as one of the bank s largest and fastest growing businesses. Prior to his current assignment, Mr. Aziz was with Union Bank Ltd. where had had joined after working several years at the ANZ Banking Group (ANZ). At ANZ he gained rich experience by leading large transaction undertaken in Australia, United Kingdom, and the Middle East. He was also a member of the ANZ s Global Risk Management team, which

consisted of select members from the bank s global resource pool that developed and implemented a proprietary Risk Integration Model that was used by ANZ to evaluate and monitor the bank s project and structured finance and large corporate assets globally. Mr. Aziz holds an MBA degree from the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and a Bachelors from Grinnell College (USA)

Mr. S. Suhail Rizvi Senior Executive Vice President Group Head Business Transformation
Mr. Suhail Rizvi is SEVP and designated as Group Head Business Transformation of the Askari Bank Limited. He is also the Chairman, Board of Directors Askari Securities Limited and represents the Bank on the Board of Directors of Askari General Insurance Company Limited and is a member of Executive and Audit Committees of the Board. He is also member of the Management Committee and Chairs various other high level committees of the bank. Mr. Rizvi has 34 years of diversified international and domestic banking experience. He started his career as Management Trainee Officer with BCCI in 1976. Prior to joining Askari Bank he was designated as Area Manager International Division BCCI and was responsible to manage volume of USD 700 millions in 1990-91. He joined Askari Bank way back in 1992 and was key member of the core team which has started the bank. His contributions are instrumental in establishing and organizing the International Division of the Bank. Mr. Rizvi Holds MBA ( Finance ) degree from the University of Sterling, Scotland and did his graduation from F. C. College , Lahore in 1975. He has attended a number of Seminars and Conferences locally and abroad. Besides participating in the Annual General Meetings of Asian Development Bank ( ADB ) held at Hyderabad, India and IMF / World Bank events at Singapore and Dubai.

Mr. Haseeb Saulat Senior Executive Vice President Group Head - Marketing & Strategic Planning
Mr. Haseeb Saulat is currently holding the position of Group Head, Marketing and Strategic Planning. Mr. Saulat possesses a rich Banking experience of more than 22 years starting from 1985 at BCCI as Incharge General Banking. He joined Askari Bank in 1992 and served at key managerial positions. When he was serving as Chief Manager at Blue Area Branch, Askari Bank undertook its Restructuring & Change Management Program under which he was elevated to Area Manager-Islamabad position in 2007. He is a business graduate from Greenwich University, Lahore. He has attended a number of foreign and local training courses.

Mr. Javed Iqbal Senior Executive Vice President

Mr. Javed Iqbal is the Chief Information Officer of the Bank and he is heading the Electronic Technology Division. Mr. Iqbal has enriched and diversified banking experience spanning over more than 40 years. He is a well known IT professional in the field. Mr. Iqbal started his banking career in 1968 as Computer Programmer at UBL. He has foreign experience to his credit and worked with Software Sciences Limited, UK and Standard Telephones & Cables limited, London UK. He held prestigious positions during his service at UBL and prior coming to Askari Bank he was SEVP/ Group Chief IT at Allied Bank Limited. To his credit there are many notable achievements which were accomplished under his strong leadership. He led Allied Bank IT Team to achieve automation of all 750+ branches and it was ABL which was first local large network Bank to achieve this milestone. Also he led ABL to achieve largest operational ATM network in Pakistan. He has on-hand experience of developing in-house core banking system at UBL and was instrumental in product development. In 2008 he joined Askari Bank as Chief Information Officer. Mr. Iqbal did his M.Sc (Tech) from University of Manchester Institute of Science & Technology, Manchester UK. He also holds the M.Sc (Physics) Degree from University of Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan.

Mr. Israr Ahmed Executive Vice President Executive Incharge - President Support Office
Mr. Israr Ahmed holds the position of Executive Incharge President Support Office and provides professional support and assistance to the President & CE in various matters for decision making. Mr. Ahmed is a seasoned banker with diversified banking experience spanning over 36 years. He started his career with UBL as a Management Trainee Officer in 1975 where he rose to the position of AVP and served as Branch Manager of different branches. He joined Askari Bank in 1992 and was one of the pioneer members of the bank and contributed towards establishment of the bank at Operations Division for 4 years. Since then, he has served the bank at various key management positions. He was the first branch manager of F-10 Markaz Branch Islamabad, later on was appointed Chief Manager of AWT Plaza Branch and rose to the position of Area Manager North. He also raised a new Division Establishment Division where he served as its Country Head. Mr. Ahmed is on the Board of Directors of Askari Securities Limited. He is also a member of the Management Committee and Chairs the Disciplinary Action Committee of the bank. He has attended a number of foreign and local training courses.

Audit Committee
Dr. Bashir Ahmad Khan Director Ali Noormahomed Rattansey Director Wazir Ali Khoja Director

Responsibilities of CEO
 The CEO is responsible for operations and policy. These operations include how the bank handles business.  The CEO of a bank is responsible for making sure the data that is reported to the shareholders, board of directors and customers is accurate

Responsibilities of BOD:  The board must select and appoint the bank's top executive officers.
 The board is responsible for formulating broad goals and strategies for the bank  The board is responsible for approving annual budgets.

Responsibilities of Company Secretary:

 Giving directors of the company guidance as to their responsibilities, including making sure they follow the laws put forth in the act.  The secretary is in charge of recording the minutes of shareholder or board meetings.  The secretary is in charge of certifying the company's annual statements.

Responsibilities of Branch Manager:

 Bank branch managers are responsible for the overall leadership, sales force, compliance, operation and financial goals of the branch they manage.  Branch manager must be aware of all the bank policy issues that affect the business of your clients and the bank.  Branch Manager is responsible for making sure that the work flows run smoothly and efficiently.

Departments of Bank:
GENERAL BANKING DEPARTMENT Account opening department Remittances department Cash department Clearing department

PRIVILEGE BANKING DEPARTMENT Online banking Lockers

CREDIT DEPARTMENT FOREIGN TRADE DEPTARTMENT ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT IT- DEPARTMENT

Finance Area Net worth:According to (Un-Audited) financial information, for the quarter and Nine Months ended September 30, 2011, the Total Assets of Askari bank is 328,167,425,000. According to (Audited) financial information, for the year ended on December 31, 2010, the Total Assets of Askari Bank was 314,744,552,000.

Marketing Area
Market expansion strategy Askari bank launches new products to capture the market. The company uses the term deposit mobilization means if other bank is giving Rs 1000 on 100,000 deposit, Askari will give 1200 instead of 1000 to capture the customers. Askari is offering different products like Askari Peshgi Munafa Term deposit, Askari Mahana bachat account e.t.c.. The main strategy which Askari Bank follows is the Market development and innovation. They achieve this strategy by giving new and innovative ideas which distinguish them in the market and these factors help them to grow successfully. They give the training and develop a culture of team building so that they work together to build a strong culture.

Marketing policies of Bank:

Following are the marketing policies of the ACBL.  Keeping the track of latest development in the world and incorporating the latest and most modern equipment to make the banking procedures simple and easy for the customers.  Development of products for the customers.  Giving good services and maintaining good relations with the customers.

Management Area
How staff is acquired? Askari bank conducts a proper procedure to hire a new staff. The procedure consists of 2 interviews and 1 test. Interviews are being taken by Country head HR Operation. Test contains some general knowledge questions, IQ test questions e.t.c. How staff is trained? Askari Bank conducts the training program of the selected candidates, group of employees which is conducted by the Training wing in alliance with Human Resource (HR) and other related departments. As hiring is done in two categories Management training officer (MTO) and Junior officer(JO) so because of difference in ranking and working methodology the training needs for both are varied. Among various training methods classrooms and OJT (on job training) are very common in practice in Askari bank. Other than training of new hires there are more than 50 Refresher Course for the improvement and development of current employees. How performances are measure? When an employee made any mistake regarding his/her assigned work it is always in the acknowledge of operation manager. Operation manager then, provide all the detail of employees, like employee job description, assigned tasks, achievements, mistakes e.t.c, in annual report which is then signed by branch manager and send to HR head office. When an employee completes a 3 years of service in bank it get promoted but the employee get the promotion through proper channel. First, branch manager send the report to area Manger, after getting the approval from AM then the report send to regional manger and for the final approval the report then transfer to HR. After analyzing all, it then gives the promotion to an employee if he/she is eligible to get the promotion. How rewards are distributed? Askari bank gives its Employees bonuses, incentives as a reward. They also give LFA (leave fare assistance). Its equivalent to one gross salary paid once in the year and it s paid along with the salary once in a year.

SWOT Analysis
Strengths
y y y y y Leading private sector bank Automatic operations Full day banking Customized solutions ATM network

Weaknesses
y y y y Manual book keeping Low job satisfaction Lack of specialization Centralization

Opportunities
y y y y Promote Islamic Banking Steady increase in Customer Deposits Open branches in rural Areas Agriculture development

Threats
y y y y y High charges High Employees Turnover Multinational Competition Legal regulation Hiring on reference

Recommendation
y y y y The ATM service should be provided 24 hours. Because customers feel upset when most of the times the machine is out of order. Many customers complaint that the bank members are busy all the time. Actually one is not working properly, so they should remove this fault to avoid customer complaints. The bank should try to give more loans to the small borrowers as the past history shows that most of the loans given to the corporate borrowers have converted into bad debt. They should adopt a good market strategy.

Conclusion
At the end we can say that Askari bank should avoid hiring s on reference bases so that they can hire the competent persons for their organization. After that can reduce their employee s turnover and losses. They should build a strong marketing strategy so that they can enhance their image in the market that will help them to retain and increase market share. They should focus on strong organizational culture among employees that will help them to work on their organization goals. The bank should give a good percentage of incentives to their employees so that they can satisfy with their job.