Manama, 22 June 2015: Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited, a subsidiary banking unit of Al Baraka Banking Group B.S.C. (ABG), was awarded two awards in the categories of 'Best Islamic Structure - Mudaraba Sukuk' and 'Best Corporate Social Responsibility' at the IFA 2015 Award ceremony organized by the well-known consultancy firm in Pakistan, Emend Group. The event - Pakistan's First Islamic Finance Awards, Conference and Exhibition was organized on 10th June 2015 at Marriot Hotel, Karach.

The 'Best Islamic Structure - Mudaraba Sukuk' award was received by Mr. Abdullah Ghaffar - Head of Investment Banking while Mr. Afaq Mujeeb - Head Credit Operations Dept received the 'Best Corporate Social Responsibility' on behalf of Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited.

Emend Group recently organized The Islamic Finance Awards 2015 (IFA 2015) for the first time in Pakistan to set performance and quality benchmarks for the Islamic Banking industry, Islamic Finance professionals and support industry. The award nominees included 13 banks, 12 FMCGs, 7 Consultancies and 8 Education providers across the country that competed against 14 award categories. Nominations in a number of award categories were solicited in May 2015 and were placed before a distinguished committee for deliberation and decisions.

On this occasion, Mr. Adnan Ahmed Yousif, Chairman of Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited and President & Chief Executive of Al Baraka Banking Group has expressed his deep appreciation for this honoring from this prestigious organization, which confirms the soundness approach that the Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited follows in laying the foundations of sophisticated Islamic banking institution that is steadily moving towards leadership in the Pakistani market and at the same time servicing the society in active and responsible manner.

For his part, Mr. Shafqaat Ahmed, member of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Al Baraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited praised the great efforts made by the Bank to strengthen its position in Pakistan's economy since the start of operations about 25 years ago, during which it provided a lot of innovative Islamic banking products and services, and at the same time its community contributions were varied, so the Bank today is considered the third largest Islamic bank in Pakistan with around 135 branches spread across 82 Pakistani cities.

Al Baraka Banking Group (B.S.C) is licensed as an Islamic wholesale bank by the Central Bank of Bahrain, listed on Bahrain Bourse and Nasdaq Dubai stock exchanges. It is a leading international Islamic banking group providing its unique services in countries with a population totaling around one billion. It is jointly rated BBB+ (long term) / A3 (short term) on the international scale and A+ (bh) (long term) / A2 (bh) (short term) on the national scale with a Stable outlook by Islamic International Rating Agency & Dagong Global Credit Rating Company Limited, and by Standard & Poor's at BB+ (long term) / B (short term) with a Stable outlook. Al Baraka offers retail, corporate, treasury and investment banking services, strictly in accordance with the principles of the Islamic Shari'a. The authorized capital of Al Baraka is US$ 1.5 billion, while total equity is at about US$ 2 billion.

The Group has a wide geographical presence in the form of subsidiary banking units and representative offices in fifteen countries, which in turn provide their services through over 560 branches. Al Baraka currently has a strong presence in Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Sudan, Bahrain, Pakistan, South Africa, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, including two representative offices in Indonesia and Libya.

© Press Release 2015