President & CEO, HabibMetro Bank

CV: 

Mr. Sirajuddin Aziz is a professionally qualified and experienced banker who has worked for different organizations in Pakistan, China, Hong Kong, U.K, Nigeria and U.A.E.

He is currently the  President & Chief Executive Officer at HabibMetro Bank. Prior to this, he has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Bank Alfalah from 2007 -2011. By virtue of being a senior member of banks’ Management Teams/Committees, he has been actively involved in overseeing the entire spectrum of banking operations of various banks for over 15 years.

Blurb:

We need affordable energy, security and congenial political environment to produce the desired results.

Evolve: How did you find 2014 for the banking sector and what will be your strategy in 2015?

Sirajuddin Aziz: 2014 proved to be good year for the banking sector, and looking at the profitability boosts exhibited in the annual results of the leading banks corroborates this opinion. Despite a relaxed monetary stance taken by the Regulator, the ensuing low interest regime, along with stunted international trade, banks have managed to amplify their profits through the avenues provided by investments, credit demand and alternate products/delivery channels.

In fact, that is exactly HabibMetro Bank’s area of focus for 2015 is: alternate delivery channels, along with enhanced balance sheet management. Penetrating the unbanked population and enhancing ease of access to finance, along with the growing demand and financial depth in Islamic Banking, is surely the way forward for the Pakistani banking sector.

Evolve: How do you gauge emerging economic conditions in terms of opportunities and challenges for the banking sector? Will this be a tough year for the banks?

Sirajuddin Aziz: Depressed international demand and ensuing lackluster trade volumes remain a challenge for banks with significant trade portfolios.  However, increased investor confidence and anticipation of increased FDI, along with significant polito-economic alliances such as China Pakistan Economic Corridor on the horizon will bring a plethora of opportunities to all sectors of the economy, including the banking industry. Hence, despite narrowed interest margins, 2015 & 2016 will offer much to the financial sector in terms of new opportunities and avenues of profitability.

Evolve: There are many underserved urban and rural areas. How is your bank planning to address that void? Will you like to share your 2015 expansion plan?

Sirajuddin Aziz: As I mentioned earlier, penetrating the unbanked population and enhancing ease of access to finance is a strategic objective of HabibMetro Bank for the next few years. We are not only increasing our national footprint and adding branches to our network across the Country, but also focusing on branchless banking, mobile banking and web banking as a means to penetrate into the financially underserved market segments. We are working very closely with the government and SBP led initiatives under the financial inclusion program. 

Evolve: We are an agricultural economy yet if you look at farmers, there is hardly any access available for financing. Do you have plans for the agriculture sector?

Sirajuddin Aziz: We are providing resources to many corporate clients from this major sector.  While we have not yet taken business on directly from the farmers, we are providing opportunities for their businesses. Also, such financing demands specialized skills, which we are trying to nurture in our staff. Going forward, in a couple of years, we should be ready to take up the challenge more vigorously. 

Evolve: How did the Bank’s deposits evolve in the outgoing year and what is going to be your strategy going forward?

Sirajuddin Aziz: The banking sector’s deposit base augmented by a little over 13% during the year 2014 and HabibMetro Bank stayed abreast of this growth curve. It was good year with regard to deposit base and mix, both. We focused on mobilizing lower cost deposits and managed to grow our Current and Saving Deposits by a decent percentage.

Early this year, we launched our Junior Savers Account to give an impetus to saving as a habit amongst the young, with some distinct product features such as guardian insurance and foreign currency savings option. Going forward, some new deposit products will be rolled out, further diversifying our deposit offerings.

Evolve: Do you think that the demand of credit from the private sector has increased due to low interest rate announced by the State Bank of Pakistan?

Sirajuddin Aziz: The growth in credit demand from the private sector is not significantly noticeable; although low interest rates are certainly important for promotion of economic activities, it is not the only factor. Cost of doing business is an important element - we need affordable energy, security and congenial political environment to produce the desired results. 

Evolve: How do you see the banking sector responding to the expected increase in demand of credit?

Sirajuddin Aziz: The banking sector, being conservative by its inherent nature, will respond to the expected increase in credit demand with caution. Sound credit controls and processes are mandatory in prudent supply of credit. Provided we do this, possibilities of any arising non-performing credit will remain in check and this will serve as an incentive for banks to move their assets away from government paper and into more commercial lending business.