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United Bank Limited

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United Bank Limited (UBL) (Urdu: یونائیٹڈ بینک) is a Pakistani commercial bank headquartered in Karachi. It is a subsidiary of British multinational conglomerate, Bestway Group.

United Bank Limited
Company typePublic
PSX: UBL
KSE 100 component
KSE 30 component
IndustryFinance
Founded7 November 1958; 66 years ago (1958-11-07)
FounderAgha Hasan Abedi
HeadquartersKarachi-74000, Pakistan
Key people
Muhammad Jawaid Iqbal CEO
Products
  • Consumer Banking
  • Commercial banking
  • Islamic Banking
  • Priority banking
  • corporate banking
  • private banking
  • asset management
RevenueIncrease Rs. 172.933 billion (US$600 million) (2023)
Increase Rs. 99.451 billion (US$340 million) (2023)
Increase Rs. 55.145 billion (US$190 million) (2023)
Total assetsIncrease Rs. 5.904 trillion (US$20 billion) (2023)
Total equityIncrease Rs. 285.872 billion (US$990 million) (2023)
OwnerBestway Group (62.13%)
Number of employees
14,973 (2023)
ParentBestway Group
SubsidiariesUBL Currency Exchange
UBL Fund Managers Limited (98.87%)
Al Ameen Financial Services (98.87%)
UBL Insurers Limited (30%)
Khushhali Microfinance Bank (27.82%)
Websiteubldigital.com
Footnotes / references
Financials as of 31 December 2023 [1]

It is listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange and it has been designated as a domestic systemically important bank (D-SIB) by the State Bank of Pakistan.[2]

History

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UBL Headquarters at night
 
UBL street view

Agha Hasan Abedi founded the bank in November 1958, and it became the second-largest bank in Pakistan. In 1974, the Government of Pakistan nationalized the bank.

In 2002, the Government of Pakistan sold 51% of its shares of the bank[3] to a consortium of Abu Dhabi Group and Bestway. Also, the bank merged its operations in the United Kingdom with those belonging to National Bank of Pakistan to form United National Bank Limited. United Bank owns 55% of the joint-venture and National Bank of Pakistan owns the remainder.

In 2005, UBL was listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange, following an initial public offering at a strike price of PKR 50.[4]

In June 2007 the Global Depository Receipts of UBL were listed on the London Stock Exchange. The offering targeted institutional investors and raised exceeding US$650 million.[5] UBL is the only Pakistani bank and one of the only two Pakistani companies that are listed on the London Stock Exchange.[6]

In April 2010, UBL launched UBL Omni,[7] an in-house developed project designed to provide banking facilities to the unbanked population of Pakistan. As of June 2014 UBL Omni had a customer base exceeding 6.8 million, with over 1.5 million active cards in issue and 5 million monthly transactions valued at over US$253 million.[8] Through the success of UBL Omni 1.55 million previously unbanked individuals have opened mobile bank accounts with UBL in Pakistan.[8] Today, Omni Dukaan network has grown to 42,100 agents in Pakistan.[9]

In January 2011, Bestway Group increased its shareholding in UBL[10] to 51.07% by acquiring an additional 20% of the shares from the Abu Dhabi Group.[11] This was a total investment of US$230.0 million in Pakistan's second-largest private commercial bank.[12][13]

The Bank added 200 branches in 2011 and 2012, thus increasing its domestic network to over 1,300 online branches[14] with 800 ATMs.

In June 2012, UBL led a consortium which acquired a 67.4% stake in Khushhali Bank, which is the largest micro-finance institution in Pakistan.[15]

In December 2013, the Bestway Group increased its shareholding in UBL to 61.37% by acquiring an additional 10.3% of the shares from the Abu Dhabi Group.[16] Through an investment of over $120 million, the Bestway Group acquired the entire shareholding of its former joint venture partner, the Abu Dhabi Group.[17]

In June 2014, the Government of Pakistan sold its remaining 19.8% stake in UBL for US$387 million ($310m of which was in foreign exchange). This was Pakistan's first transaction in the global equity market in almost eight years.[18][19]

In 2017, the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) filed a criminal case against Khalid Iqbal, head of capital markets at United Bank Limited, and three of his accomplices for front running.[20][21] The case involved two unusual purchases of Gharibwal Cement Limited shares by UBL, authorized by Iqbal.[22] Investigations revealed that Iqbal's accomplices bought shares at lower prices and sold them to UBL at higher prices.[22] The court convicted all four individuals, concluding that they made illegal profits and caused financial losses to UBL.[22]

In November 2018, UBL announced that it was voluntarily shutting down its New York City branch due to it being commercially nonviable to operate.[23]

UBL announced on 12 June 2021 that it was winding up its wholly owned Switzerland subsidiary, UBL (Switzerland) AG, which it had owned since 1967.[24] The process completed on 2 June 2023.[25]

UBL announced on 12 September 2023 that its largest shareholder, Bestway Group, had submitted an "Indicative Offer" to acquire UBL's 55% shareholding in its United Kingdom joint venture with the National Bank of Pakistan, United National Bank Limited "UNBL UK". This was approved by the Board of Directors of UBL but is conditional on the approval of the State Bank of Pakistan.[26][27]

Operations

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Map depicting worldwide operations of United Bank (Pakistan). Highlighted countries have branches, subsidiaries and/or representative offices of the bank. Pakistan is highlighted in dark green for reference.

Current operations

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Today, UBL is the largest bank in the private sector in Pakistan and has over 1,390 branches nationwide, 18 overseas branches, a significant presence throughout the Middle East, and representative offices in Beijing and Kazakhstan.

Former operations

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UBL formerly used to have subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and Switzerland and a branch in New York.

FinCEN

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United Bank was named in the FinCEN Files, published by BuzzFeed News and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). It had eight suspicious transactions from 2011 to 2012 flagged, totaling to $399,620.[28]

Subsidiaries

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  • UBL Fund Managers Limited
  • UBL Insurers Limited
  • UBL OMNI

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "UBL Annual Report 2023" (PDF). UBLDigital. Retrieved 26 March 2024.
  2. ^ Reporter, The Newspaper's Staff (2020-09-04). "HBL, NBP, UBL declared important banks". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2020-09-07.
  3. ^ "Pakistan to raise $387 m by selling UBL". The Express Tribune.
  4. ^ Hussain, Dilawar (May 22, 2005). "UBL share offer: too much hassle for too small gain". DAWN.COM.
  5. ^ "UBL's GDR gets $650 million". Daily Times. 4 March 2016. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
  6. ^ "MCB Bank delists from London Stock Exchange". The Express Tribune. 2 June 2017.
  7. ^ "UBL Omni identified as "sprinter" in global survey". Pakistantoday.com.pk. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  8. ^ a b "Bestway Foundation :: Bestway Group". Bestwaygroup.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  9. ^ "About Us". Ubldirect.com. United Bank Limited. Retrieved 2019-01-30.
  10. ^ "Abu Dhabi sells 20% UBL stake". Emirates 24-7. 28 January 2011.
  11. ^ "Bestway Group Invests $230 Million in United Bank Limited". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  12. ^ "Bestway Group Invests $230 Million in United Bank Limited". Pakistan Company News. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  13. ^ Bestway Group (26 January 2011). "Bestway Group Invests $230 Million in United Bank Limited" (Press release). Retrieved 2015-12-15 – via PR Newswire.
  14. ^ "UBL Branch Locator". Ubldirect.com. United Bank Limited. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  15. ^ "MicroNOTE 20 - Unlocking Synergies - VERSION 3.ai" (PDF). Retrieved 2019-11-07.
  16. ^ "Bestway takes control of Pakistan banking arm UBL". TheGrocer.co.uk.
  17. ^ "Bestway Group Invests Over $120 Million In United Bank Limited". ABestwaygroup.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-12-15.
  18. ^ "Approval: Deal sealed to sell govt's remaining UBL stake". The Express Tribune. 13 June 2014.
  19. ^ "Allied Bank's privatisation". Dawn.
  20. ^ "SECP files criminal case against bank employee". www.thenews.com.pk.
  21. ^ Report, Staff (April 27, 2017). "SECP files criminal case of insider trading against a bank employee". Profit by Pakistan Today.
  22. ^ a b c Nizami, Taimoor Hassan, Babar (March 31, 2024). "Pakistan's billion-dollar fund manager resigns quietly as SECP investigates suspicious transactions. Here's what went down". Profit by Pakistan Today.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  23. ^ "UBL to voluntarily shut down its New York branch". The Express Tribune.
  24. ^ Report, Profit (2021-06-27). "UBL discards its little known Swiss subsidiary". PT Profit. Retrieved 2023-09-29.
  25. ^ "Switzerland". UBL. 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-09-29.
  26. ^ "Establishment of Exchange Company and Divestment". Investegate. 2023-09-12.
  27. ^ Zaidi, Erum (2023-09-13). "UBL to set up exchange company, sell UK subsidiary to Bestway Group". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2023-09-29.
  28. ^ Report, Monitoring (2020-09-21). "Six Pakistani banks named in FinCEN leak". Profit by Pakistan Today. Retrieved 2020-09-23.
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