Islamic Banking Industry has been expanding its operations across the country as it explored 111 districts of Pakistan through setting up 2,589 branches’ network.
The network of Islamic banking industry consisted of 21 Islamic banking institutions; 5 full-fledged Islamic banks and 16 conventional banks having standalone Islamic banking branches by end March, 2018.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), branches of full-fledged Islamic banking stood at 1,306 in different districts. The number of Islamic banking windows operated by conventional banks having standalone Islamic banking branches was recorded at 1,283.
The pace of expansion of Islamic banking industry has been quite impressive as it added 272 branches in mere one year despite many challenges including availability of spaces, utility services, and human resource.
The customers, on the other hand, are not the challenge but they embraced Islamic Banking Industry at large with the increase in the awareness of Sharia-compliant financing and its benefits. The number of customers and utility of Islamic banking industry also witnessed consistent growth at locations where branches of various Islamic banks are available.
The assets of Islamic banking industry reached Rs. 2.334 trillion by end of March 2018. It witnessed a growth of 2.8 percent (Rs. 62 billion) from previous quarter.
Deposits of Islamic banking industry grew to Rs. 1.916 trillion with an increase of 1.7 percent (Rs. 31 billion) during the period under review.
The financing and related assets (net) of Islamic banking industry continued its growing trend and registered a quarterly growth of 6.4 percent (Rs. 77 billion) during the review quarter to reach Rs. 1.284 trillion by end March 2018.
Overall, profit before tax of Islamic banking industry was recorded at Rs. 7 billion by end March, 2018 compared to Rs. 5 billion in the same quarter last year.
