KARACHI: Meezan Bank – Pakistan’s leading Islamic bank, and Central Depository Company (CDC) signed an agreement to launch shares custody services, a statement said on Friday.
Ariful Islam, Deputy CEO, Meezan Bank and Badiuddin Akber, Chief Executive Officer, CDC signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at Meezan Bank’s Head Office, Karachi.
Also present at the occasion were Zia Ul Hasan – Group Head Operations, Meezan Bank, Shariq Naseem – Head of Product Development & Marketing, CDC and Ayub Baig, Manager Capital Market – Meezan Bank along with their respective teams.
The agreement will allow Meezan Bank customers the facility to buy and sell shares and keep these shares in the safe custody of a CDC Sub-account managed by Meezan Bank.
Meezan Bank’s Shares Custody Services will also allow customers to subscribe for the new issue of shares (i.e. IPO’s).
The launch of Shares Custody Services aims to enhance outreach of CDC’s facilities in all parts of the country through the extensive network of 660 branches of Meezan in more than 180 cities across Pakistan.
Commenting on this occasion, the Deputy CEO of Meezan Bank, Ariful Islam said: “Meezan Bank is focused on providing innovative value-added services to its customers leveraging on state-of-the-art technology.
“At present, CDC investor account opening services are not available in small cities and remote areas.
“Meezan Bank’s Shares Custody Services will address this need by allowing its customers to maintain a formal CDC Investor Account for safe custody of shares and securities with the Bank.”
Also commenting on this occasion, CEO CDC, Badiuddin Akber said: “One of CDC’s strategic objectives is to continually increase its outreach to remote areas through collaboration with leading institutions.
“This is in line with the international best practice of providing depository services through banks.
“Our collaboration will provide millions of Pakistanis access to Pakistan’s Capital Market through the wide branch network of Meezan Bank.
“This is indeed a great step towards CDC’s aim to help increase the investor base of the stock market.”
