According to a report by Mettis Global, Faysal Bank of Pakistan has been aggressively working to convert its conventional banking system into Shariah compliant system. The efforts have yielded positive results; it achieved 75 percent of its target by the end of 2019.
A year ago, it had succeeded in converting half of its operation to Islamic banking, from conventional banking. The present management continued migration from one of banking systems to another in the outgoing year and succeeded in converting another 25 percent branches to Islamic banking.
The Bank has added 100 new branches of Islamic banking in different cities in 2019 along with the conversion of 59 branches from the interest-based banking system to Shariah based. The overall count of Islamic branches operated by the Bank reached 414 out of total 555 branches by the end of 2019.
Faysal Bank plans to achieve its target to become a full-fledged Islamic bank, when this target is achieved, it will become the sixth full-fledged Islamic bank of Pakistan.
Faysal Bank will become the first bank of its kind in Pakistan to converted from one system to another and set an example for other banks to follow its . The migration of the Bank from the interest based bank to Shariah based entity proves the fact that the general public prefers Islamic banking in Pakistan over conventional banks.
With an increase in the awareness of Islamic banking among the general public, the Islamic banking system will grow in Pakistan at an accelerated pace, which will also enhance the banked population of the country in years to come.