Bank Asia owned by Pakistani banks

Bank Alfalah is one of the leading commercial banks in Pakistan. The bank has more than 1,000 branches in more than 200 cities in the country. They also have branches in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

However, earlier this year, Bank Alfalah took the initiative to withdraw its operations in Afghanistan. This time, it has also taken the initiative to withdraw its operations from Bangladesh.

Bank Alfalah has approved the proposal to sell its Bangladesh operations. The shareholders of the company have agreed to this proposal from Dhaka's Bank Asia Limited. They are going to buy it for 47.5 million US dollars or 580 crore taka.

A reliable source in Bank Asia said that as part of the acquisition process, an internal audit of Bank Alfalah's Bangladesh operations has already been completed. This process began a few months ago.

There is news that the approval of the sale has been received in the Pakistani capital market and the acquisition may be officially completed soon. After that, Bank Asia will take over the assets and operations of Bank Alfalah.

The decision was announced at the 78th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Bank Alfalah, which is listed on the capital market. The minutes of the meeting were submitted to the Pakistan Stock Exchange on Friday.

The shareholders approved the resolution, which said that permission has been given to transfer the operations of Bank Alfalah in Bangladesh to Bank Asia Limited. For this, the bank will receive about 580 crore taka as a base price, which is equivalent to about 47.5 million US dollars at the current market rate.

However, some adjustments may be made in accordance with the applicable laws and regulations in finalizing the sale price. The entire process is subject to the approval of the relevant regulatory bodies of the two countries - the State Bank of Pakistan and Bangladesh Bank.

Bank Asia, which started operations in 1999, later expanded its business by acquiring the Bangladesh operations of several foreign banks. These include the Bangladesh operations of Bank of Nova Scotia and the local operations of Muslim Commercial Bank.