A consortium led by United Bank Limited (UBL) and comprising ASN-NOVIB Microkredietfonds (Triple Jump B.V), Credit Suisse Microfinance Fund Management Company (ResponsAbility Global Microfinance Fund), Rural Impulse Fund II S.A. SICAV-FIS (Incofin Investment Management Comm.VA) and ShoreCap II Limited (Equator Capital Partners LLC) have been declared the successful bidders for a 67.4 percent equity stake in Khushhali Bank Limited (KBL), the largest microfinance bank in the country.
Post the acquisition the consortium will own 80 percent of KBL's equity of which UBL own share will be 29.7 percent (inclusive of its existing 11.7 percent holding in the institution). Atif R. Bokhari, President & CEO UBL, said: "UBL has always been at the forefront of innovation both in terms of introducing new technologies as well as rolling out new business models. We strongly believe that this acquisition has tremendous synergistic value for UBL and is an economically viable and socially responsible investment".
Access to financial services has been proved as one of the most significant factors in improving overall quality of life for the vast majority of the poor who generally do not have access to even basic financial services like safe storage of money in an account, funds transfers, access to credit, payments and insurance.
In Pakistan, the conventional banking sector serves less than 20 percent of the population. It is with this in mind that UBL developed Omni, a branchless banking platform, to provide basic banking services to the masses through retail agents. Enhancing its stake in Khushhali Bank made for a very compelling business case as the natural synergies with the existing Omni platform will allow UBL to provide credit and deposit financial services to an entirely new segment of the unbanked and underbanked market.
Moving forward, UBL and its consortium partners see significant opportunity in rapidly expanding KBL's existing business by improving the governance structure, rolling out new business models, transferring knowledge from a vast pool of experienced professionals within UBL and, in particular, its partners and leveraging modern technologies to achieves scale and efficiency in distribution.
Khushhali Bank was established in 2000 with a poverty alleviation agenda to provide microfinance services to the poor, particularly women, through community-based social mobilisation. The existing network of KBL comprises of 109 branches spread across 72 districts of Pakistan, which is the largest geographic spread by an MF entity in Pakistan.-PR
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