How Did Meezan Become So Big?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you most probably have heard of Meezan Bank. Posturing as “the Premier Islamic Bank,” its rise has been nothing short of meteoric. Conceptualised in the mid-1990s by its Founding CEO, Irfan Siddiqui, it has fought an uphill battle in introducing and developing the field of Islamic banking in Pakistan. However, it grew so much and built such a strong reputation that it now ranks among the top five banks in Pakistan. Period. And a story like that certainly deserves to be chronicled.

Sibtain Naqvi has taken this task on. In Unconventional: The Bank No One Saw Coming, he has written a story of Meezan Bank, from the seeds of its inception coming up to the present day. As Naqvi points out in his Author’s Note, “Irfan Siddiqui’s personal journey is so intertwined with Meezan’s history that it’s hard to separate the two”. Unconventional is a portrait of both the man and the bank.  

Irfan had trained as an accountant in the UK, and after working in the Middle East with Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) in the 1980s, shifted back to Pakistan to be with his parents. He had given up a glittering career to move to a smaller and weaker market. Deciding to settle permanently in Pakistan, he soon became the General Manager of Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company (PKIC). PKIC was a dead horse – almost. However, Irfan was able to make a profitable turnaround in three years. Success shone upon his shoulders. Things were going well.