Standard Chartered Islamic to Expand in Pakistan
Pakistan, which faces slowing economic growth and a Taliban insurgency, will remain a “core market” for Standard Chartered Plc’s Islamic banking unit, a bank official said.
“Pakistan is a core market for us,” Afaq Khan, the Dubai- based chief executive officer of Standard Chartered’s Saadiq Islamic unit said in an interview in Singapore. “We take a very long term view of the economy. These are very small aberrations, if you will. Investors who take a strategic view on Pakistan see it as an opportunity.”
Standard Chartered has eight Islamic bank branches in the country and “a plan for expansion,” he said last night on the sidelines of the Islamic Financial Services Board summit, without providing details.
