Habib Bank Ltd., the lender involved in about $6 billion of Pakistan projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, plans to expand in China to tap more business under President Xi Jinping’s flagship infrastructure program.
Last year, HBL opened its branch in the Gwadar Free Zone on the 29th of January 2018, making it the only bank to have a branch in Gwadar as well as China. The branch was opened in Urumqi – a city with enormous potential. HBL, then, announced that its target market is not just limited to customers in Pakistan but it aims to market CPEC opportunities across borders using its international reach and customer base.
China’s Belt & Road Bank Partner in Pakistan Moves Into Mainland – @business @HBLPak $HBL the lender involved in about $6bn of #Pakistan projects under the #BeltandRoad Initiative, plans to expand in #China to tap more business under President #XiJinping 's flagship pic.twitter.com/s9Wi4MU9mV
— Capital Stake (@CapitalStake) November 12, 2019
The bank’s application for full-fledged commercial operations has been accepted by China’s banking regulator, and Pakistan’s biggest lender expects to get a branch license within three months, Chief Executive Officer Muhammad Aurangzeb said.
The experience in working with Chinese companies building the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, coal mines and power plants in the South Asian nation encouraged the lender to expand in the world’s second-largest economy. Habib Bank, controlled by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development SA, is among the few Pakistani lenders to fund the Belt and Road projects that are otherwise dominated by Chinese banks.
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China’s state-run companies “increasingly want to work with us in all those locations which are part of the Belt and Road but Chinese banks are not present,” Aurangzeb, 55, said in an interview in his Karachi office. “In the next 3-5 years, if we get this one right, this puts us is in a supra-regional play.”
This move came as no surprise as only last year the representatives of the two banks held discussions to promote renminbi (RMB)’s internationalisation and relocation of export-based industries from China to Pakistan. The HBL president, while speaking to the participants, stated the bank is uniquely positioned to assist companies under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and promote cooperation between the corporate sector of both the countries.
Pakistani banks such as SBP, HBL, UBL, Allied and UFONE have set up their branches in China, signed currency agreement and authorised RMB transactions.#CPEC #BRI @zlj517 @CathayPak@GameChangerYR @investinpak https://t.co/eM4XE2RysT
— CPEC Official (@CPEC_Official) November 4, 2019
The bank is looking to leverage its relationship with Chinese companies in Pakistan. It has expanded business with one such company in the United Arab Emirates and is discussing a project in Oman as well, said Aurangzeb. The lender has been able to penetrate Belt and Road projects in Pakistan by developing China business over the last decade and a half, said the former JPMorgan Chase & Co. executive.
“They want to explore new markets, which is fine, but they need to do it in a cautious manner, cognizant of the risks,” said Raza Jafri, director of research at Intermarket Securities Ltd. “Lending in foreign markets will be least preferred given risks to the global economy, but it will be fine if Habib Bank sticks to services like trade facilitation.”
HBL, then, announced that its target market is not just limited to customers in Pakistan but it aims to market CPEC opportunities across borders
The bank’s shares have gained almost 20% this year, while the benchmark KSE-100 Index has dropped about 1%. Habib Bank advanced credit and also acquired stake in the nation’s first-ever coal mining venture, one of the main Belt and Road projects, with Chinese companies in Pakistan’s Thar desert. It has also participated in a few coal-fired power plants and an electricity transmission line project in different roles, Aurangzeb said.
In its attempt to follow Chinese investment it became the first Pakistani lender to open a branch in Gwadar, a small fishing town — 630 kilometers (391 miles) west of Karachi — where China is developing a port.
HBL is looking to benefit from China's splurge in the region. It was the first Pakistani bank to offer yuan accounts and now the only to have presence in in Gwadar and China #BeltandRoad #cpec pic.twitter.com/0EPDCQleOQ
— Faseeh Mangi (@FaseehMangi) January 31, 2018
The lender, founded in 1941, has since worked with Chinese state-owned companies including China Machinery Engineering Corp. and State Grid Corporation of China. Habib Bank also got a credit line from China Development Bank for $500 million about three years ago that has been 80% consumed, according to Habib Bank. Expansion in China will help it further improve its relationships with the companies. That explains Aurangzeb’s visiting card, which mentions his name and other details in Chinese along with English — unusual for Pakistani firms.
Pakistan has been one of the flagships for China’s Belt and Road initiative, with infrastructure projects valued at $60 billion. It ended Pakistan’s decades-old power shortage problem, though it did increase Pakistan’s reliance on China. It has to pay Chinese commercial banks more than the International Monetary Fund in the next three years.
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Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund Pakistan, in June 2019, fully disclosed the debt taken from China. It stood at $6.5 billion for the current fiscal year alone, equal to three-fourths of the $8.6 billion worth of total loans that Islamabad received in the last 10 months, as shown in official documents.
Habib Bank’s increased focus on China comes after it shut its U.S. branch, following a fine of $225 million by a New York regulator two years ago for weak anti-money laundering controls and sanctions compliance.
New York regulator kicks Pakistan’s Habib Bank out of US https://t.co/WVG3koClNT
— Financial Times (@FinancialTimes) September 7, 2017
The CEO said he was not worried about the fine as the bank took a foreign currency loan to pay the fine that has impacted earnings this year but that loan is being reduced quite aggressively and is expected to be repaid by 2020.
Habib Bank has about over a dozen Chinese employees working in Pakistani branches that handle 10,000 accounts of Chinese citizens and companies. HBL has a global presence with branches in over 15 countries. The list includes, but is not limited to, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sri Lanka, France, Bahrain, Belgium, Oman, Singapore, Kenya and Hong Kong.
The bank as part of its new global strategy to focus on China is also exiting countries including Lebanon, Afghanistan, Mauritius and Seychelles, said Aurangzeb.