Bank Makramah Limited, formerly Summit Bank, is restructuring again. What is different this time?

Bank Makramah’s logo is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The palm tree sprouting over a desert oasis is the kind of on-the-nose symbolism you would expect from a first year BBA student giving a presentation in Marketing 101 wearing a suit he last wore to his cousin’s baraat. 

The initial impression is obvious enough. They want to exude some kind of religious, Arabic, identity consistent with their branding as an Islamic bank whose owners are based in the Gulf. But perhaps even more than that they want to use this new-life symbolism to try and shed off the baggage that comes with their previous name: Summit Bank. 

It is strange enough, but the entity that is now BML is operating under its third name. The beginning of the bank dates back to the early 2000s when Arif Habib and Bangladeshi state owned Rupali bank carried out a joint venture under the name of Arif Habib Rupali Bank. Rupali bank had already established a branch in Karachi which started operations in 1976 and this was the first time the bank was collaborating with a private sector entity. 

Due to State Bank’s (SBP) regulation on equity, the bank had to be merged with Arif Habib in order to stay operational. The deal was finalized in 2004 and the bank started its operations in 2006. Subsequently, the bank was listed on the Stock Exchange in 2008. Since then, the bank was renamed to Summit Bank in 2010. The conversion to an Islamic Bank came in 2023.