J.P. Morgan has won a mandate to provide a range of cash management and treasury services to Pakistan’s Bank Alfalah. The mandate follows a series of developments over the last 12 months in J.P. Morgan’s South Asian operations, including October’s opening of a representative office in Bangladesh headed by Sazzad Anam, head of financial institutions, Bangladesh, at J.P. Morgan treasury services.
“We’re delighted to further extend our relationship with Bank Alfalah,” said Amin Mohammed Khowaja, general manager of J.P. Morgan in Pakistan, in a statement. “This ongoing relationship reflects our commitment to helping our partners in Pakistan further extend their services and enhance their business, and it shows we can consistently deliver the right solutions at the right time.”
This latest mandate is part of J.P. Morgan’s drive to enhance its treasury services in South Asia, as outlined in an interview with FinanceAsia by the bank’s head of treasury services in India and South Asia, Rajiv Jain, last year.
Bank Alfalah previously worked with J.P. Morgan on the execution of trade transactions. The new relationship will extend this to include account services, overnight fund sweeping, trade reimbursement and US dollar clearing, as Bank Alfalah aims to take advantage of J.P. Morgan’s unified global network to provide its own clients with better transaction processes.
“We elected to partner with J.P. Morgan based on their strong and continued presence in Pakistan and the other markets in which we operate,” said Syed Hassan, head of the financial institutions division at Bank Alfalah, in a statement. “J.P. Morgan has extensive cross-market capabilities, a wide range of integrated solutions and strategic insights into how we can further benefit our customers. They understood our needs from the outset, and importantly, the solutions we received have met our requirements.”
Bank Alfalah supports a branch network of 332 locations including 63 Islamic banking branches. Of those branches, eight are overseas and located in Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
“We have continued to invest in our systems and platforms at a regional and global level, to ensure that the solutions we deliver are appropriate for each specific client in each specific market,” said Ricky Kaura, who was appointed regional executive for Asean and Pakistan at J.P. Morgan treasury services last year, in a statement. “Our strength lies in our ability to provide seamless cross-border services tailored to each individual clients’ needs, backed by best-in-class client services.”
