U Microfinance Bank, NBP enter into strategic partnership to promote financial inclusion

President & CEO U Microfinance Bank Limited (U Bank) Mr. Kabeer Naqvi and President & CEO National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) Mr. Arif Usmani signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) of strategic partnership between two organizations to promote financial inclusion in the country.

This collaboration between the institutions will create synergies between the two institutions. This strategic partnership creates a platform for strengthening the capability of both organizations to provide a comprehensive range of banking services and promote various forms of cooperation including medium to long term Debt Finance, Housing Finance (Low Cost Housing under KPP), Working Capital Funding, Structured Finance and various other funding options. 

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Kabeer Naqvi, President & CEO of U Bank said both institutions have developed a strong mutually beneficial relationship and are willing to extend the cooperation by entering into various innovative transactions including Structured Finance with NBP acting as a Lead arranger and advisor backed by a credit guarantee facility and exchange of Gold Shroff details for better financial worthiness assessment. This alliance will provide an exciting opportunity to bring state of the art financial solutions to our combined customer bases. The synergy will pave way towards promoting financial inclusion in the country

President & CEO of NBP, Mr. Arif Usmani appreciated U Bank’s efforts towards digitization and financial inclusion of unbanked economy. He further emphasized that inclusion of U Bank in Karyana Store product, recently launched by Prime Minister, will not only provide outstanding results but also help in better reach of product due to U Bank’s grass root experience. He expressed the desire to further strengthen the engagement between two institutions going forward. He also discussed the need of developing industry vide lending controls to minimize non-performing loans and investing on human resources to deliver quality services and financial solutions to the masses. 

The ceremony was held at NBP’s Head Office and was witnessed by the senior management of both institutions including Mr. Rehmat Ali Hasnie – Group Chief Corporate Investment Banking  Group, Mr. Ahmer Liaquat – Divisional Head Microfinance & Special Initiative, Mr. Muhammad Ahmed Qadar – Wing Head Microfinance Institutions and Ms. Mariam Pervaiz – Chief Commercial Officer & Chief of Staff, Ms. Ambreen Malik – Chief Business Officer & Chief Digital Officer, Mr. Farooq Kamran – Chief Corporate & Investment Banking and Mr. Mohsin Raza Aslam – Head Budgeting Planning & Corporate Finance of U Bank.

About U Bank:

U Microfinance Bank Ltd. (U Bank) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) – Etisalat. The bank has a network of more than 200 branches, across 183 cities and rural areas in Pakistan and offers a wide range of microfinance loans, deposit products and branchless banking solutions. U Bank’s branchless banking offers services under the banner of UPaisa in collaboration with Ufone (Pak Telecom Mobile Limited). The service is offered at nearly 45,000 agent locations across Pakistan.