MCB-Newsletter-07 Final

The
Technological
Leap
We»ve switched to an upgraded version
of our Core Banking System.
Cover Story
Disruption Ahead
Discover more about MCB Lite ƒ
a socially connected payments solution.
Product Feature
Website 2014
We»ve revamped and
relaunched our website.
Digital Feature+Interviews & Profiles
Off-site & Adventures
Creativity & Fun
T H E O F F I C I A L N E W S M A G A Z I N E
V2 | 01 Page 15 Page 43
@
Page 37
Human
Resource
Management
Group
Wholesale
Banking
Group
Retail
Banking
Group
15 Main Jail Road, Gulberg, Lahore, Pakistan.
111-000-622 | www.mcb.com.pk

Editor’s NoteContributors
Year 2014 has passed with a lot of zeal and momentous happenings.
Some have received a bonus, others got promoted and rest are striving
best to make it possible for the coming year.
We at CCM, with the support of our team are always in the move to
present most of these happenings to you in the form of our newsletter
called “Life@MCB”.
In this issue of Life@MCB, we dedicate the cover and rest of the pages
to the success stories that took place during 2014. These stories include
MCB’s Core Banking System Upgrade, launch of MCB’s Corporate
Website, initiation of our Hajj Campaign and various other initiatives
that make us even more proud to be a part of this organization, then we
already are.
Team RBG has set their tone in the cover story about “MCB Lite”.Asma tells
us about “fitness at work” whereas Mazhar Iqbal and Khalil-ur-Rehman have
uniquely expressed their creative perspectives of life and existence.
This issue also covers an interview of Ali Shafi and Sufian Ghafoor.
Both of these personalities carry their exceptional point of views but are
yet similar in defining the true essence of life.
It is always heartening to receive contributions from your end. Your
appreciation and healthy criticism is the sole reason behind our
motivation to come up with the fifth issue of this publication.
Our aim is to entertain you and to keep you updated about all the latest
happenings at MCB, so that we remain intact via the spirit of words
created through this newsletter.
We would love to hear your thoughts. Please send us your comments or
other story ideas at sara.afzal@mcb.com.pk
Thanks!
MCB Lite
By Digital Banking-RBG (North)
Corporate Website
Usman Akram
Retail Banking Group
Mehboob Elahi
Treasury & FX Group
Usman Khan
Audit & RAR Group
Mohammad
Farooq Wasi
Compliance & Controls Group
M.Danish Iqbal
Risk Management Group
Musharraf Iftikhar
Financial Control Group
Khurram Saeed
Govt. Hajj Scheme 2014
Amna Ahmed
Operations Group
Imran Rashid
Special Assets
Management Group
Khalid Ishaaq
Wholesale Banking Group
Adrish Ali
CSR & Security Group
Akbar Ali
Islamic Banking Group
Haroon Siddiqui
Mubeen Akhtar
Information Technology Group
Mohsin Dar
Usman Shehzad
Salman Ferozi
Human Resource
Management Group
Tehmina Shaﬁ Khan
Creativity@MCB
Adnan Ali Khan
Muhammad Shaﬁq
Syed Ali Zullquarnain Naqvi
Asma Aqeel
Mazhar Iqbal
Khalil-Ur-Rehman
Contents
1341
03
43
45
49
Cover Stories
MCB Lite
Corporate Website
Project Ambit
Govt. Hajj Scheme 2014
Group Highlights
Treasury & FX Group
Wholesale Banking Group
Risk Management Group
Special Assets Management Group
Audit & RAR Group
Information Technology Group
CSR & Security Group
Operations Group
Human Resource Management Group
Good Cheer
MCB Loyalty Discounts
In the Spotlight
Independance Day 2014
Corporate Social Responsibility
MCB Talent
Awards & Honors
© 2014, MCB Bank
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Sara Afzal
Editor
11
51
55
56

Disruption
Ahead
Cover Story
by Digital Banking
RBG (North)
What mobile phones have done to
landlines in this country is exactly what
mobile wallets are about to do to bank
accounts. Over the next three to five
years, the number of mobile wallets
will far surpass the good old bank
accounts. Why is that you ask?
Simple, both landlines and bank
accounts are privileges and will remain
so. These are services, along with the
infrastructure and the processes that
power them are anchored in the
physical world. Such utilities largely
run on the proprietary of the real world
infrastructure such as the wired
network, bank branches, ATMs,
Point-Of-Sale (POS) networks,
exchange-houses and so on. And to top
this, the on-boarding and the application
processing for these services also unfold
within the physical value chain, which
means that the ‘time and space’rule
apply. In most cases, actual forms are
filled and transported from one location
to another and sometimes to different
cities before the data is manually inserted
into various systems several hours, days
and in certain cases weeks later.
On the other hand, the next generation
mobile wallets (as they come into main
stream existence, which is about now)
will run on wireless protocols and will
not be privileges any more. Think of
this day and age’s mobile connectivity;
all you require is a valid ID card for the
purchase and it is yours. Therefore,
technically speaking all you would
need is a functional mobile phone
backed with an ID card and the mobile
wallets will be yours to use. And if
developed and designed properly, this
will happen without any work being
done in the physical value chain almost
mimicking the experience of making an
e-commerce transaction on your smart
phone through feeding in your
particulars online.
Extending the same thought-process
into the near future, it won’t be
farfetched to imagine mobile wallets
that will be easier to own as opposed to
applying for a brand new mobile phone
connection in the first place. Why?
It’s pretty simple, owning a new
mobile connection will still involve
evoking parts of the physical value
chain to execute. Think of the SIM
card and in some cases the handset
that would need to be purchased, as
opposed to the wallet that resides
in the cloud and is down loaded
over the wireless internet in shape
of a mobile app.
Let’s for a moment step out of the
payment space and into what has been
going on in the rest of the world.
Immediately it becomes apparent that
people today are behaving, living and
spending their time in radically
different ways than what they were
doing just fifteen or twenty years ago.
We do not visit libraries, consult or
print encyclopedias any more. Fact
based knowledge and curriculums have
little value; it is about how these facts
are put into context and concepts which
really counts now as the rest we can
just Google in real time. We indeed
Google many times more than we ever
visited libraries or consulted books.
We do not write letters anymore unless
we are sending a legal notice to
someone, instead we write emails more
than we ever thought about writing
with a pen and paper. Our emails get to
the destination instantly
as opposed to paper
based
communication
and we expect and
more or less demand
immediate responses
for almost everything
that we write today.
For most of us, news is now
consumed in bite size pieces
several times, throughout the
day and newspapers have long
seized to exist as chief sources
of real time happenings, that we
as individuals would be
interested in. People today are
making more connections with
their friends and family in a single day
as opposed to before the digital era.
The point of all of this is to bring to
notice of how almost everything stands
redefined in frequency or consumption
in the form of a graduated change that
is made from the physical value chain
to the digital one.
This occurs due to dramatic reduction
in costs along with the services or the
utilities becoming simpler to operate
and becoming real or near-time all at
the same time as this transaction is
made from physical to the digital.
However, one thing hasn’t changed
much over the last 50 years, it is the
way people handle and manage money
and the way payments are made. The
ATM looks the same and performs
more or less the same functions.
The POS machine is exactly the same,
that even the color of the casing is the
same dull gray or black.
03 | LIFE @ MCB
It won’t be far
fetched to imagine
mobile wallets that
will be easier to
own as opposed to
applying for a
brand new mobile
phone connection.
>>
Discover more
about MCB Lite –
a socially
connected
payments solution.

The plastics have the same DNA
and no radical change there either.
Now compare this to the radio, TV,
Phone or any other device that comes
to mind and see how much those have
changed in the last four to five decades
to get a perspective of the lack of
change in the way people handle
money and make payments.
The big question that arises is,
“How is it that the banks, the payment
gateway associations, POS/ATM
manufacturers etc. have managed to
stick to the old ways for so long in face
of such colossal changes elsewhere?”
To understand this phenomenon,
we need to deconstruct the payment
dynamics and reduce it to its simplest
form: There are two main actors in the
payment dynamics the seller or the
merchant and the buyer or the customer.
The banks and the payment associations
are only the enablers or side actors if you
will. In the past and in the present, the
side actors were enabling payments by
dealing in the physical value chain by
doing the real work in terms of deploying
the POS machine and connecting it to the
network, managing the pre-authorization,
settlement, repudiation functions and so
on. Hence, the justification for two to
three percent Merchant Discount Rate
(MDR) charged to the seller or the
merchant. The card is produced,
personalized, packaged and shipped to
the customer and this obviously requires
work to be done in the physical value
chain and therefore the fee levied in
shape of annual and other charges
to the customer.
Fast forwarding to the present and the
near future, things have changed, both
buyers and sellers own smart phones
that are connected to the wireless
internet. POS machines or plastics are
not the only options available anymore
and the transactions no longer have to
be delayed as they will happen in the
real or near real time through mobile
wallet-to-wallet interactivity with little
or no cost to the parties involved.
Savings in MDR and instant credit are
not the only benefits that we are talking
about. The big breakthrough is about
bringing into reality a completely new
connection between the merchants and
the customers that was impossible to
reach earlier.
Think of a ‘zero-cost’app-to-app or
wallet-to-wallet notifications over the
internet that the merchant will now be
able to send to the potential customer
handsets informing them of for example,
the 50% discount they bought within the
hour or till stocks last. Customers will
have the option of buying instantly
through the mobile wallet sitting at
home or while in the store.
A little stretch of the imagination and
picture of complete disruption of the
retail space (including pre-sales, actual
purchases and post sales scenarios) at
the hands of smartphones powered by
the wireless internet and linked with
mobile wallets starts to reveal itself.
Let’s examine what’s going on in
some of the other industries. New age
technology companies have made a
habit out of disrupting the good old
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
The 20 year old SMS service has
already been disrupted by Whatsapp
along with many other similar
messaging services. Skype and Viber
are disrupting the standard and
international calls and similar disruptions
have become pretty much a norm across
several other markets as well.
The reason being, these services are
being distributed digitally in real time
and are device and platform agnostic
but most of all they are free or have a
price point close to zero. How do you
compete with such an onslaught if your
propositions still partly or wholly deal
in the physical value chain? You can’t!
You simply get disrupted!
However, there is still one small silver
lining remaining in the cloud; when the
incumbent industry gets inflicted
repeatedly with disruption, sometimes
the disrupted players develop resilience
and get really good at dishing out the
similar treatment to the other cross
industry players. Therefore, the MNOs
after being disrupted repeatedly by the
new age technology, companies are
now getting good at disrupting the
retail financial services industry.
MNOs are striking back through the
combination of agent network and
mobile wallets to disintermediate the
bank branches and the bank accounts
and in certain cases the payment
associations as well.
While constructing and designing
retail financial products and services,
one must always remember that no one
wakes up thinking about having loads
of fun while making payments. Instead,
we think about what we need to
accomplish, consume and payments
that need to be made since they are
necessary enablers for those activities.
This would mean that the more
payments fade away in the background,
the less visible they are, the more
effortless handling money becomes;
the faster these new behaviors would
spread and take root.
Also, we need to remember that
payments tend to unfold in a social
context and not in a vacuum.
In case you are thinking about business
payments these too have a social
backdrop to them. The wallets of the
future or at least the ones that would
disrupt or attain any meaningful scale,
will be built and designed on the
fundamentals and principles of the social
networking platforms.
These will be networked-financial
services products at their core with
“going-viral” built into their DNA
and not as marketing after thought.
These services will come without any
preconditions and will be platform
independent meaning bank, telecom and
devise agnostic. These wallets
will reside in the cloud and will be
distributed digitally and initialized or
personalized sitting at home.
If someone asked you 20 years ago, how
many pictures you expect to capture
during your next 3 day vacation? Your
answer would surely not be 300. What
the digital cameras have done to
photographs, the well-designed mobile
wallets are about to do to payments.
Just as nobody could predict the
hundreds of pictures almost every
short vacation taken these days and
that too mostly ‘selfies’to be shared
on social networking sites, it is almost
futile to attempt to predict just how
many payments a day people will
be making as mobile payment
transformation and the related
ecosystems get going. May be ten or
twenty or maybe even thirty a day,
who knows? It’s as good as anybody’s
guess. However, one thing is for sure,
we will be making a lot more of these
payments through smart phones as our
new payment contraptions compared to
what we are making in the physical world
today. Let there be no doubt that there
will be a lot more of these mobile wallets
around to make these payments from.
Buckle up! There appears to be serious
payment-disruption brewing just right
around the corner to where we have
already arrived in this country.
05 | LIFE @ MCB
Services are
being distributed
digitally in real time
and are device and
platform agnostic
but most of all they
are free or have a
price point close
to zero.
Let there be no doubt that there will be a lot more of these
mobile wallets going around to make these payments easier.
•

•
MCB’s Revamped
Corporate Website
Launched!
Cover Story
One of this year’s major highlights has
been the launch of a new corporate
website of MCB Bank Limited. We
have wanted to do this for years and
now with the perfect combination of
energetic people, under the visionary
leadership of the Group Head
SP&CCM, we have been able to create
a better face, that is a better equipped
and multi-dimensional, which carries
the ability to handle a lot of new things
that were unheard of on such a medium
in the banking industry before.
‘Improvisation’ was the key agenda
when the project was first undertaken
in 2013 by the Project Team.
The idea was not only to revamp the
look of the website but also to
‘level-up’ the use, benefits and
exposure of the new website. This is
a milestone that the Bank as a
team has achieved!
The CMS (Content Management
System) based website is now a business
generating hub growing day by day;
a portal of MCB Bank services, where
customer queries are now being
handled with an exclusive TAT of five
days and allows real-time changes in
content through approval cycle, which
then adheres to the controlled change
management mechanism.
The CMS based system is capable of
generating reports for further utilization
and are flexible enough for addition of
further add-ons. One of its kind, the
website has proven to be a symbol of
class through its robust features:
70% people rated the website between
three to five and 117,000 plus visits
were recorded from around the globe.
This response was recorded only within
two weeks after the Commercial Launch.
This has not been an easy journey,
the Project Team had to sell their
idea to stakeholders and bring
everybody on board at every phase
of the Project before moving onto the
next.The Working Group & STECO
members remained actively
involved in contributing all the
possible ideas that could have been
applied to a bank’s website. The
management remained prudently
active and the President especially
showed keen interest throughout the
project tenure for which we are
whole-heartedly thankful.
It is because of everyone’s efforts,
which made this new website possible.
The ideology of placing a new face for
the Bank seems to be coming to life as
ever. Since its launch, the feedback has
been tremendous.
We, the Website Project Team thank
you for your efforts and input in
making our dream project a reality.
The CMS (Content
Management
System) based
website, now a
business generating
hub, is growing day
by day; a portal of
MCB Bank services,
where customer
queries are handled
within 5 days of TAT.
The website launch
was made possible
because of
everyone’s hard
work and dedication.
This has not been
an easy journey, the
Project Team had to
sell their idea to its
stakeholders and
bring everybody on
board at every
phase of the Project
before moving onto
the next.
by Usman Akram
MCB is now a
click closer to its
customers –
in a better way.
• Fully Mobile Responsive
• CMS (Content Management System)
for real-time changes
• Sales Lead Management
• Customer Queries Management
• IBAN Generator
• Product Toolkits
• Powerful Search Engine
(within the website)
• Powerful statistics / reporting tools
• Flexibility for add-ons
• Search Engine Optimized
>>

Project Ambit
Core Banking Upgrade
Product Feature
The Bank has switched over to an upgraded version of its Core
Banking System (CBS) from SunGard’s Symbols v8.2 to the Ambit
CBS v8.5 on March 17, 2014 within the planned timeframe.
by Imran Rashid

As a result of such vibrant marketing,
a lot of excitement was built amongst
internal as well as external customers
and numerous queries were directed
to the Hajj Cell, branches and the
Call Centre right before the
announcement of Government Hajj
Scheme. On the launch date, there
was an over-whelming response from
the customers and a steep rise in
application numbers was observed on
an hourly basis; kudos to all the teams
involved in sharing the updates on
a regular basis and keeping the
enthusiasm alive amongst the staff.
There was similar customer activity
observed at the Islamic & Corporate
Banking segments for Hajj applications,
adding to the total collection. The joint
efforts of all made the Campaign
conclude before day-end with a
whopping number of 36,289 Hajj
applications breaking all previous
records & leading the competition
once again.
Under the guidance of our President
and the Senior Management, it proved
to be an exemplary campaign where the
whole Bank stood together for the same
goal, and as a team we achieved huge
success; Team MCB is forever
determined to raise the bar not only
for the competition but for itself too.
MCB has done it again! Like last
year, MCB is the market leader in
country-wide Hajj application
solicitation. This victory has happened
yet again due to the tremendous and
continuous efforts of our branch
network and of the numerous support
teams from across the Bank, namely:
• Team Islamabad & the Hajj Cell
• Remote Banking Team
• ITG
• Islamic Banking
• Corporate Banking
• All support businesses
and operations group
Retail Banking Product Team in
coordination with CCM spear-headed
Hajj Marketing Campaign 2014 and
took several initiatives to create
awareness amongst both external
(corporate & commercial) and internal
customers, including MCB
sister-concerns, by using various modes
of cost-effective marketing, which are:
E – Channels:
various means of e-channels were used
to create hype before the launch:
• Desktop & ATM wallpapers
• Email communication through
Business News and Corporate
Communication etc)
• SMSs and emails to our corporate
and commercial customers.
• MCB Website
Print Media:
prior to its launch, the campaign
was advertised in Pakistan’s leading
Newspapers:
• The Nation
• Nawai-e-Waqt
• Friday Times
Credit Card Campaign:
In order to facilitate the customers a
full or partial interest- free installment
plan was offered to all MCB Credit
Cards holders.
There was an
over-whelming
response from the
customers and a
steep rise in
application
numbers was
observed on an
hourly basis.
The joint efforts by all made the
Campaign conclude before day-end
with a whopping number of 36,289
Hajj applications breaking all
previous records.
Government
Hajj Scheme 2014
by Amna Ahmed
Read the Retail
Banking Group’s
success story.
Success Story
LEFT TO RIGHT:
Mr.Jan Saeed -ROM Islamabad, Mr.Babar Sohail-RH Islamabad, Mr.Nasir Ayub-GM Islamabad, Mr. Farhan Baig -BH North,
Mr.Jahangir Nazar-AHO North, Mr.Abrar Hussain-Incharge Hajj Cell, Mr.Zulfiqar Ali-BFC North.
•

Team Building
A team building activity helps to foster better and open
communication between the employees as well as between
the employees and the higher management. It has been
introduced to create harmony and productive coordination
amongst various teams and units of the treasury group.
Since the treasury team needs to stay in the dealing room
because of its work nature, it is a real challenge for managers
to spare dealers and send them on training workshops.
So to curb this situation, every Friday we prepare a lecture in
the treasury room that is presented by one of our team
member. These Friday sessions are topped by interesting
team building activities and games that are organized by our
group coordinator Ms. Amna Tahir.
Purpose of these activities is to develop strong
communication and profound relationships amongst all team
members in a pleasant ambience.
by Usman Khan
We in Treasury feel very excited to have formally
launched Pakistan’s first ever Purchasing Managers Index
(PMI) under the banner of MCB Bank. It is called MCB
Purchasing Managers Index or MCB PMI, which has already
been released for January and March 2014 and will continue
to be released bi-monthly a few more times before switching
to the monthly release.
As there was a dearth of economic releases to gauge the
country’s economic direction, we envisioned the launch of a
flag-bearer private-label i.e an economic indicator of our own
which would carry the name of MCB to the economists,
analysts, investors and other stake holders in the financial
markets.
We are glad to finally realize our vision that will not only
enhance the MCB brand to another level but is a major step
towards providing crucial information to the Market players
both in Pakistan and abroad. MCB PMI is perhaps the first
economic indicator that has been launched by the private
sector.
A lot of efforts by a number of people were put into this
project. We are very thankful to WBG and RBG for their
contributions in conducting the surveys through their
network. Their efforts are highly appreciated and we look
forward to their continuous and vital support.
PMI is a leading indicator for the economic health
of any manufacturing sector. It is considered to
be an essential number in most of the developed and
significant emerging economies.
PMI is a keenly awaited economic data release in the developed
Markets which bears material impact on the markets.
The index measures five major indicators: new orders,
production, employment, supplier deliveries and the
inventory levels – all leading measures affording a glimpse
into the future direction of the economy.
A good index reading enhances the attractiveness of an
economy. The magic number for the PMI is 50. A reading of
50 or higher generally indicates that the manufacturing is
expanding. If manufacturing is expanding, the general
economy should be doing likewise. As such,
it is considered a good indicator of future GDP levels.
Another useful figure to remember is 42. If the number falls
below 42, over a period of time, it generally indicates
contraction in the overall economy and recession could be
just around the corner. The index value between 42
and 50 indicates that economic growth is anemic and flat.
We are very excited to
have formally launched
Pakistan’s first ever
Purchasing Managers Index
(PMI) under MCB’s banner.
Treasury & FX Group
• Enhancement of brand and franchise value
• Traction of bank-client relationship (First when
conducting survey and later at dissemination
of report).
• The report may serve as MCB’s USP (unique
selling proposition)
• First Mover advantage
- Recognition of MCB’s effort across industries
- Industry wide improvement in quality of research
• A good addition to our Research Products menu
• Help in early identification of expansion/contraction
of different sectors for the bank.
Benefits to MCB
•
>>
Group Highlights
Cheering each other during the activity.
Bridging all gaps. Working together as a team.
It’s not just about building teams
– it’s about building The Team.
13 | LIFE @ MCB

Group Highlights
Wholesale
Banking Group
by Syed Adrish Ali
The success of Wholesale Banking Group (WBG) and
overseas offices is based on the positive contribution of all
staff members. Our staff posted pan-Pakistan in the teams of
corporate banking, investment banking, transaction banking,
trade, financial institutions, portfolio management and
finance & business planning that have all contributed well in
their focus areas, while overseas operations in Sri Lanka,
Bahrain and Dubai Representative Office have also delivered
good performance in their respective niches.
MCB Bank has initiated the Presidential Award to honor the
valuable contributions made by key staff from various
Groups. These individuals, in their areas of expertise had
helped contribute towards the overall success of the Bank.
Earlier this year, a ceremony was also held to honor such
staff members. Key contributors from WBG and Overseas
who were recognized through this award include the
following staff members:
Valeed Basit Saleemi,
SVP, Division Head,
Trade Products Division
Valeed holds a Masters degree in
Business Administration and Economics
and has been associated with the bank
since 1995. He was posted in his current role in 2012. He has
done well with managing the Group’s trade portfolio and has
remained a consistent high performer who relishes work
and challenges. MCB is lucky to have him on board!
Hassan Ali, AVP
Relationship Manager, Corporate
Islamabad
Hassan holds a Masters degree in Business
Administration and has been associated
with the bank since 2008. He has been an
asset to the WBG team and has shown a high level of
dedication. Hassan has provided valuable contribution in all
areas, while going over and above his job descript ion to help
augment customer relationships.
Sumedha Alahakoon
Regional Manager,
MCB Sri Lanka
Sumedha has been associated with the
bank since 2006. He is presently holding
the position of Regional Manager with
branches in Pettah, Maradana and Kandy assigned to him.
He has been recognized for his effective management skills
and over achieving the annual targets assigned for his region.
Rifad Riyal
Unit Head – Islamic Banking
(Colombo Region), MCB Sri Lanka
Rifad joined the bank in 2006. He has
been instrumental in developing and
promoting Islamic Banking Unit is
Sri Lanka. At present he is managing the Islamic Banking
Units established in Wellawatte and Kollupitiya. He has
been recognized for his consistent performance and over
achievement of his annual targets.
The Wholesale Banking Group (WBG) is successful because of
the positive contribution of all staff members in Pakistan and in
our overseas offices.
The corporate teams managed to touch an all-time high number for corporate advances of Rs. 200 Billion in June 2014.
Investment Banking has successfully closed 6 syndicated transactions worth over Rs. 17 Billion covering telecom, sugar,
paper & pulp, food processing and chemicals sectors in HY2014.
The bank successfully participated in the 3G/4G auction that concluded in May 2014, where Mobilink was awarded a 3G
10MHz License at USD 301 Million and Ufone managed to bag a 3G 5MHz at USD 147.5 Million.
The Transaction Banking Division (TBD) has launched PayDirect, a web based payment solution designed to support
diverse payment requirements of corporate customers and large business entities. With PayDirect customers will be able to
print Corporate Cheques and transfer payments to multiple accounts within MCB Bank network and to networks of other
banks through IBFT facility. After successful commencement of the service, Transaction Banking added Pakistan Mercantile
Exchange to its foray of PayDirect payment clients.
Burqraftaar Toofan enables non-resident Pakistanis to send money to Pakistan quickly, easily and conveniently.
A marketing campaign was conducted in February 2014 and the overall performance of the branches with the support of
RBG management was commendable as their combined efforts have resulted in higher income for the bank, boost in
customer confidence and an increase in the number of walk-in customers at our branches thereby resulting in an increased
potential customers.
>>
15 | LIFE @ MCB

Group Highlights
Celebrating a presence of 20 years in Sri Lanka, MCB Bank marks its successful journey this year with the opening of the newest
branch in Kollupitiya, as part of the Bank’s strategy to be close to its customers and to serve them with an array of qualitative and
efficient banking services. The opening ceremony was graced by the Chief Minister of Western Province Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga,
Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Sri Lanka Mr. Ananda Silva and many other distinguished guests.
With the opening of Kollupitiya Branch, the Bank now has a total of eight branches in Sri Lanka and continues to strengthen
its presence in the country.
To encourage "Green Projects", MCB Sri Lanka has agreed to finance LKR 284Mn out of the full project cost which is estimated at
LKR 440Mn. This facility is structured under a Diminishing Musharakah. It is expected to supply 5.7GWh of environmental
friendly electricity to the national grid.
MCB Bahrain partly sponsored 1st ever “Pakistan-Bahrain Investment Conference” organized by the Embassy and patronized
by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce of Bahrain aimed at bringing foreign investment to Pakistan and promoting trade
and economic ties between the two countries. Minister for Industry and Commerce of Bahrain, Dr. Hassan Fakhro, and
Pakistan Prime Ministerial Special Assistant, Mr. Musadiq Malik, were among the dignitaries and speakers at the conference.
On the eve of “National Day of Pakistan”, a ‘Fashion Show’ was organized, followed by a dinner reception which was
organized by the Embassy of Pakistan in Bahrain to celebrate the occasion and to promote the soft image of Pakistan. The
event was attended by ambassadors and dignitaries from various countries.
MCB Sri Lanka MCB Bahrain
Overseas operations in Sri Lanka, Bahrain and Dubai
Representative Offices have delivered good performance in
their respective niches as well.
Chief Minister of Western Province Hon. Prasanna Ranatunga opening the newest MCB branch at Kollupitiya
Business Head-MCB Bahrain with the Ambassador of Pakistan Mr. Jauhar Saleem and other dignitaries at the Investment Conference
•
17 | LIFE @ MCB

Group Highlights
In line with Management’s endeavor to make MCB the most compliant bank, Compliance & Controls Group (CCG) a
well-integrated & robust framework; identifies, manages & monitors all potential risks that could lead to breach of laws &
regulations. Since 2011, CCG has taken various measures to inculcate a strong compliance culture.
by Danish Iqbal
• The Bank has implemented Name Filtering systems,
HOTSCAN & World-Check, to strengthen Customer
Due Diligence (CDD) & Enhanced Due Diligence
(EDD) process.
• To be well-equipped with all the challenges and to
support the business promptly CCG is in the process
of developing an e-Digital Library which will provide
access to all internal circulars issued by the bank along
with all circulars issued by SBP, FMU & SECP and other
multimedia with just a click to all users.
• The AML function is committed to the highest standards
of AML/CFT compliance and requires management and
employees to adhere to these standards in order to prevent
use of bank’s channels, products & services for money
laundering and terrorist financing. With a view to bring
automation into compliance monitoring and to inculcate
proactive risk assessment culture, MANTAS, a transaction
monitoring system is in place which generates alerts based
on predefined thresholds & rules. It monitors out of pattern
transactions to detect possible Money Laundering activities.
• For strengthening KYC practices, the Bank has had an
agreement with Bankers Accuitytm
which is acclaimed
industry-wide for its advance features and database, giving
access to the most comprehensive data on PEPs &
sanctioned individuals.
• The Internal Control function promotes higher standards
of control through implementation of internationally
accepted COSO framework. The Bank's Risk & Control
Self-Assessment (RCSA) framework is effectively
functioning for ensuring ongoing operating effectiveness
of key controls.
• CCG in coordination with Human Resource Management
Group initiated a specialized program under “Certified
Branch Managers (CBM)” & “Certified Branch Operation
Managers (CBOM)”. Further, comprehensive training
programs on compliance and controls were also
developed and implemented for field staff.
• The Bank has the honor to introduce a state of the art web
based CKAS (Compliance Knowledge Assessment
System) testing system; in order to enhance Compliance
and Controls awareness, Compliance knowledge testing
through CKAS was managed and conducted for all
permanent employees.
• CCG participates in the SBP inspection process
pro-actively along with other groups to address the
pre inspection issues highlighted by SBP team, the
outcome of which is the reduction of 50% gross
penalty (2006 - 2010 penalty trend analysis).
•
The Risk Management Team planning ahead.
The team working intensely to stay a step ahead of everything.The CCG team
>>
by Musharraf Iftikhar
The core support of an organization.
Risk
Management
The operational
risk awareness were
facilitated at Staff
College Lahore,
Multan, Karachi
and Islamabad.
Risk Management supports a business unit which includes recognition of risk, risk assessment, developing strategies to
manage and mitigate risk using various skills, resources or techniques. Effective risk management is the cornerstone of Risk
Management Group’s (RMG) philosophy, which is aimed at adding value through optimization of risk and return. MCB has
created a risk culture based on modern techniques that allows risk management and business units to increase shareholder
value through a better understanding of the Bank and its customers.
Functions of RMG at MCB are Credit Review, Market Risk, Operational Risk, Compliance, Portfolio Management, Credit Policy
and Credit Risk Control. RMG applies a structured and disciplined approach to manage risks.
CRCD has played pivotal role in upgrading and implementing the core banking system (CBS v8.5). In Go-Live ambit CBS
v8.5, CRCD, in addition to its existing centrally administered credit risk control function, has also assumed responsibility of
centralized facility capturing & limit control in Customer Lending (CL) and Limit Control (LM) Modules on pan Pakistan
basis for all RBG (Commercial) & WBG branches.
The period under review also includes:
• Efficient relocation of CRCD-North
Lahore office from ‘MCB House’to
new building titled as ‘MCB Centre’in
March 2014 with no downtime in
supportservicesfortheBusinessGroups.
• Takeover of accounts of exposure
Rs.10M is in process after having
successfully achieved all previous
centralized targets set by the
management whereby 100% portfolio
has been taken over by CRCD for
WBG, Consumer (SPL, PG, BS, Auto
Loans), Staff Finances and RBG
(Commercial) 97% approximately."
19 | LIFE @ MCB

>>
MRMD is a risk management function
that works in close partnership with
the business segments to identify
and monitor the market and the
counterparty risks throughout
the Bank and to define market risk
policies and procedures.
The CRMD consists of the following
departments, Basel II
& Financial Control, Credit Policy
(CPD), Portfolio Management (PM)
and Credit Risk Reporting and
Systems (CRRS).
During the last quarter, CRRS
developed an in-house behavior model
to comply with SBP
instructions/guidelines. This model
calculates the behavior scorecards
and assigns rating. They also started
preparing a presentation to cover the
credit portion for RMPRC forum
through CRMIS system to save time
and improve the quality of work. This
was followed by starting work on
preparation of CRMIS vs GL variance
in the head of Markup Recoverable.
This exercise will help in identification
of the reasons for such variance.
Moreover, CRRS successfully reported
the eCIB data of New Personal Loan
in the absence of ITG provided system
dumps to avoid any State Bank of
Pakistan (SBP) penalty. CPD has
been actively involved in development
of Policy Framework for Bank’s
proposed international initiatives.
The department is providing support
for formulation of Risk and Policy
Framework in close liaison with
SPIG team to help them succeed in
various international and strategic
operations. CPD had also extended
their full support in processing and
implementing amendments/changes
in credit processing and credit
authority related matters that arose
as a result of organizational changes
which ensured smooth transition.
Further, Credit Portfolio function
shall now operate under the umbrella
of CPD with a more focused
approach towards an effective
Portfolio Management. Successfully
managed regular data gathering
exercise for corporate, commercial
customers, required for PD modeling
as part of Basel II credit risk
implementation project.
After a thorough analysis; CRMD presented annual review for 2013 in January 2014
to the senior management. The key findings are:
• Major internal frauds include
misappropriation in a customer’s
funds, fraudulent encashment of TDR
and utilization of funds through the
issuance of a cheque book on
MF-80R, fraud in customer’s funds
through flying entries. System
generated receipts can effectively
mitigate such risks. However, some
critical issues such as non-ticking of
posting sheets, password
theft/sharing, lack of vigilance by
peers/supervisors and non-balancing
of General Ledger (GL) Heads still
pose major risks. Therefore, line
management needs to be more
vigilant on this count as well.
• Customer complaints remain a major
source of detection for internal frauds
along with involvement of officers
and BM and cashiers remained high.
Increased awareness is required for
more effective utilization of
preventive and detective controls. The
line management needs to re-assess
operative/design effectiveness of
preventive/detective controls for risk
mitigation and the proactive
identification of such incidents.
• KRIs like password sharing,
non-ticking of daily posting sheets,
non-balancing of GL heads, issues in
activation of dormant accounts,
violations of cheque book issuance
procedures, issues relating to ATM
balancing/card management,
unauthorized disbursement of loans,
lack of proper monitoring of pledge
sites are the high risk areas and should
have zero tolerance for line
management. Historically, these
KRIs have been translated into
operational losses either in form of
frauds or regulatory penalties
• ATM down time around 10.33%
is showing a slight improvement from
10.68% for 2012. The main reasons
for down time are power crisis and
connectivity issues i.e. command
not established.
• Customer Complaints referred by
SBP remained the highest among
critical logins. Further, on average
77% complaints were resolved out
of which 43% were resolved within
TAT (3 working days) vs 50% for
year 2012. Complaint resolution
within TAT needs further
improvement to avoid regulatory and
reputational risk.
• Through effective monitoring of
negative balances reports. Ops Risk
successfully recovered/settled Rs.253m
in 320 accounts owing to unauthorized
overdrafts due to various reasons.
• Five sessions of operational risk
awareness were facilitated at Staff
College Lahore, Multan, Karachi &
Islamabad for front line officers
/managers and new batches of
General Banking Officer.
• All compliance related matters
including SBP Inspection, IRAF,
Internal and External Audits were
effectively handled and no instance
was outstanding at year end.
Credit Risk Review is segregated at
three different geographical places at
South, Central and North. Credit Review
function ensures that lending practice
remains compliant to approved policies
and procedures. The divisions conduct
an independent loan review and perform
credit analysis. Major aim is to
supplement business’efforts towards
fresh name booking and deepening
existing relationships through speedy
and appropriate credit reviews.
Year 2014 has brought in various new
challenges with the handing over of
EPZ,SAMG and corporate south to
CRD-South, CRD-N and CRD-Central
respectively. Management of TAT,
despite being low on HR (due to attrition)
is one of our biggest achievement.
Successful BCP and RCSA runs have
confirmed our focus on quality output.
Credit Review function ensures that the lending practice remains
compliant to approved policies and procedures.
•

First of all we would like to share
that during 2013, SAMG surpassed
all previous records of recovery by
achieving highest ever figure of
Rs.1.502 billion and maintained its
average recovery yield at 19%.
The Group has not only exhibited a
consistent run-rate in recovery across
the period, but has also extended its
recovery base, in terms of number of
settlements/cases, by 23% over 2012.
On Consumer NPLs side, substantial
improvement in recovery has been
witnessed and a growth of 56% over
2012 has been registered (i.e. Rs.335M
vs.Rs.215M).
Nonetheless, massive recovery in loss
classified portfolio uplifted bank's
profitability by way of reversal of
provisions and resultantly bank has
sustained its industry position with
improved asset quality & earning per
share (EPS) in 2013. This performance
of Recovery Units of SAMG has also
been accredited by financial analysts
in the National Press on various
occasions, this is of course, a matter of
pride for all of us. On the compliance
side, with bank's policies/procedures,
SAMG has extensively improved its
Internal Audit Rating and four SAMG
Units out of seven have been awarded
highest Audit Rating for the year 2013
i.e. "A Category".
As regards to 2014, SAMG has once
again achieved a milestone of Rs.1.000
billion consecutively for the seventh
time. Notwithstanding the fact that
2014 carried more challenges on
account of higher political certainty,
strained economy together with
destructive floods. Despite all these
challenges, our efforts were focused on
surpassing last year’s performance.
The strength of SAMG is not only
about the numbers being achieved in
a year – it is also about the foundation
SAMG has built for the future.
Building on current human resource
and infrastructure base, the underlying
philosophy of "Innovative Pro-Activism"
will further be entrenched into the
mindset of SAMG's workforce, which
will positively contribute towards the
achievement of organizational goals in
times to come.
SAMG’s strength is not only about the numbers being achieved
in a year – but also about the foundation they built for the future.
by Khalid Ishaq
Discover the milestones set by SAMG!
Special Assets
Management Group
•
Audit & RAR Group
2014 & Beyond
Unleashing Creativity:
We begin with the initiative that
served the purpose as the foundation
for the entire creativity process. It is
nothing but the universal truth that
ideas can be generated at any level –
irrespective of the cadre or functional
title. Bearing this truth in mind we, at
Audit & RAR Group, introduced a
platform to our team members where
everyone could share their ideas and
thoughts. A dedicated email account
was created with the help of ITG,
which is accessible to all. The email
account is personally supervised by the
senior management within Audit &
RAR Group, who meet periodically to
discuss various ideas that are received
from all across the Group. These ideas
have one thing in common i.e. their
implementation will lead to the
amelioration of the efficiency and
effectiveness of the operations carried
out within the Audit Group.
Focusing On What Is Important:
One of the prime challenges for an
audit function is to keep its focus on
the areas that are important either
from regulatory or an operational
perspective. In view of this challenge
we, at Audit Group, have been shifting
our focus on different areas in the past.
Most recent example in this regard is the
enhanced focus of Audit Group on the
Anti-Money Laundering / Combating the
Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
AML/CFT has also been the focus of the
SBP over the past few years.
In 2014, we have increased the
weightage of findings that will be
highlighted at the branches in this
specific area. Not only has the
weightage been augmented, but we
shall also be displaying the audit rating
of AML/CFT of a branch separately in
its audit report. This initiative will help
the Bank in maintaining constant focus
on this significant area that has a great
deal of room for improvement.
A Colorful Initiative:
Limited Scope Reviews commonly
known as LSRs are conducted for
around 300+ branches each year.
These reviews serve as a litmus test for
us and each review gives us an instant
snapshot of some of the
controls operating
within the branch.
Historically, no
indicative rating
was assigned to the
LSRs. At times the
absence of an indicative
rating would result in
overlooking of the LSR results.
With a decision to overcome this
issue, the think tank of the Audit
Group came up with an idea to
assign an indicative rating to the LSR
results. Consequently, an interesting
score based mechanism was developed.
The reason I am referring to this
mechanism as an interesting one is
based on the fact that the indicative
rating is assigned through use of colors
comprising of Blue, Green, Yellow and
Red. Next time when you pick up an
LSR report I am sure that a mere
glance at it would reveal the status of
branch’s performance in the LSR it
recently had.
And the Journey Continues….
What you have just read is a glimpse
of the initiatives that we have taken at
Audit Group during 2014. Hopefully,
there is a lot more to come. A journey
of a thousand miles begins with a
single step. We, at Audit Group,
humbly believe that with each passing
day we continue to take these little
steps that bring us closer to our
destination i.e. to become an exemplary
assurance and advisory function.
05 | LIFE @ MCB
by Mohammad Farooq Wassi
The Road Doesn’t
End Where it Bends-
if You Don’t Fail to
Take the Right Turn.
Heraclitus, the famous Greek Philosopher, once said, “Noting Endures but Change”. Change depicts movement, it
depicts life. Change is an important element in the creativity process. This Edition’s write up will highlight some of the
initiatives that Audit & RAR Group took during 2014. Needless to mention that these initiatives were only possible
because we had challenged the status quo.
Group Highlights
•

endeavors a key role in bank’s
financial discipline.
“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like
accomplishment.”
- Thomas Carlyle.
>>
Financial Control Group (FCG) endeavors a key role in
bank’s financial discipline. While ensuring that all
transactions reflect international accounting patterns,
FCG is responsible to present the success and growth of
MCB Bank Limited in numeric order. This proficiency is
achieved through all applicable accounting principles and
procedures from the regulators, thus harmonizing the bank
with globally acceptable standards and practices.
FCG has developed a comprehensive approach to cater all
financial/regulatory/budgetary challenges of the bank,
therefore, separate desks/units have been formed to address
the needs with greater focus. At present, five separate units
have been formed as under:
Financial Reporting & Investor Relations Unit:
Financial Reporting Unit, being a pivotal player, prepares
the periodical accounts/financial statements/and apprise the
Management with various reporting on the Bank’s
performance and peer group trends.
The unit monitors and evaluates all accounting practices in
the bank and is responsible all internal/external audits of
financial statements.
The keen interest of the stakeholders in MCB’s performance
is indicative of the fact that, the investor relation wing has
been functional in promoting the bank as a potential
investment opportunity. For this purpose, the unit frequently
conducts one to one session with the potential investors and
attends international road shows to brief the financial
performance and future outlook of the Bank.
Central MIS Unit:
Under the pretext of increasing regulatory and business
operational needs, with regards to information that is
coupled with technological advancements, it became
imperative for a dynamic and growing organization such as
MCB Bank Limited to manage its information effectively
and efficiently.
With effect from October 2009, MCB Bank Limited
decided to manage its MIS engines through a centralized
mechanism, Central MIS Unit that aims to reduce
unnecessary dependencies on operational staff for provision
of information, in effect reducing respective TAT and create
uniform information definitions for availability
of accurate data.
The Central MIS Unit is structured to take care of business,
operational and regulatory information requirements of
internal and external customers of MCB Bank Limited in a
timely and efficient manner.
MIS reports/data are being shared with the users across the
Bank on variable and fixed periods as per user needs. For
this purpose CMIS have two reporting engines, Oracle GL
(OGL) and or Knowledge Manager (KM).
Taxation & Branch Support Unit:
The Taxation & Branch Support Unit takes care of all tax
related matters, arising in the branches/offices, along with
significant and periodical reporting to Federal Board of
Revenue and Provincial Revenue bodies. The Unit is
responsible for implementing all related tax laws within the
organization, which is in close liaison with tax
officials/advisors. Tax planning & strategy are other notable
features of this unit.
The Branch Support part of this unit covers the issues
related to Schedule of Bank Charges on bi-annual basis
and issuance of profit rates (both declared & provisional)
for local & foreign currencies.
Budgeting & Planning Unit:
Budgeting in present age is an important tool to forecast
the financial patterns in different layers of the bank. This
Unit works with specific expertise to update & apprise the
management of the budgetary trends in all financial/non-
financial spheres.
The Unit also assists in formulating the Bank’s performance
on a near to accurate basis. This involves an in depth
statistical analysis on Bank’s numbers on all accounts, on
historical basis, along with various comparisons and analysis
in wake of overall economic position of the country.
The monthly reviews of Business & Support Functions
also enable the management to strategize and evaluate the
performance of various sectors in line with budgetary estimates.
Regulatory Reporting & Branch Licensing Unit:
State Bank of Pakistan, being the central bank of the country,
desires reporting requirement to be fulfilled on different
intervals on a regular basis. The huge quantum of reports
with regular frequencies and the stringent deadlines marks
the responsibilities handled by this Unit, to be more
challenging.
The Unit also takes care of branch licensing issues of the
Bank, which necessitate strong liaison with the State Bank
and addressing reporting requirements. Branch Licensing is
also responsible for opening, closing, temporary shut downs
and all related issues of branches. It also maintains integral
information of the entire network.
Internal Control Unit:
Diversified nature of above assignments necessitates more
efficient and dynamic controls to be established to monitor
the performance of each & every desk. However, the
processes hand should be aligned and synchronized with
prevailing practices and policies. Consequently, the need for
an Internal Control Unit arises to effectively execute the
above jobs.
Internal Control Unit under direct supervision of CFO,
is responsible to ensure that all Units are performing their
duties as per defined practices.
In addition to the aforementioned, FCG also assists the
management in many other roles like, purchase committee,
property evaluation and many other day to day matters. FCG
also contributes key roles in management decisions,
operational support and audit/SBP related issues.
The work performed at FCG has become more challenging
with strict statutory deadlines, interaction with the audit and
inspection teams. Being the owners of the financial numbers,
quality of information generated and presented to the
stakeholders is definitely a key element.
Team members at FCG have always ensured compliance
with the challenging deadlines which sometimes comes at
the cost of working very long hours.
As per practice, the challenges in terms of finalization
of annual accounts, timely printing of annual financial
statements and addressing shareholders at the AGM, have
been successfully met.
Voluntary disclosures have been made in the financial
statements, therefore managing to retain Best Corporate
Report Award for consecutive two years.
On a concluding note, year 2014 has brought significant
operational challenges which were duly countered through
dedication, teamwork and motivation with the commitment to
deliver on similar lines and moving forward.
organization, which is in close liaison with tax
officials/advisors. Tax planning & strategy are other notable
features of this unit.
The Branch Support part of this unit covers the issues
related to Schedule of Bank Charges on bi-annual basis
and issuance of profit rates (both declared & provisional)
for local & foreign currencies.
Budgeting & Planning Unit:
Budgeting in present age is an important tool to forecast
the financial patterns in different layers of the bank. This
Unit works with specific expertise to update & apprise the
management of the budgetary trends in all financial/non-
financial spheres.
The Unit also assists in formulating the Bank’s performance
on a near to accurate basis. This involves an in depth
statistical analysis on Bank’s numbers on all accounts, on
historical basis, along with various comparisons and analysis
in wake of overall economic position of the country.
The monthly reviews of Business & Support Functions
also enable the management to strategize and evaluate the
performance of various sectors in line with budgetary estimates.
Regulatory Reporting & Branch Licensing Unit:
State Bank of Pakistan, being the central bank of the country,
desires reporting requirement to be fulfilled on different
intervals on a regular basis. The huge quantum of reports
with regular frequencies and the stringent deadlines marks
the responsibilities handled by this Unit, to be more
challenging.
The Unit also takes care of branch licensing issues of the
Bank, which necessitate strong liaison with the State Bank
and addressing reporting requirements. Branch Licensing is
also responsible for opening, closing, temporary shut downs
and all related issues of branches. It also maintains integral
information of the entire network.
Internal Control Unit:
Diversified nature of above assignments necessitates more
efficient and dynamic controls to be established to monitor
the performance of each & every desk. However, the
processes hand should be aligned and synchronized with
prevailing practices and policies. Consequently, the need for
an Internal Control Unit arises to effectively execute the
above jobs.
Internal Control Unit under direct supervision of CFO,
is responsible to ensure that all Units are performing their
duties as per defined practices.
In addition to the aforementioned, FCG also assists the
management in many other roles like, purchase committee,
property evaluation and many other day to day matters. FCG
also contributes key roles in management decisions,
operational support and audit/SBP related issues.
The work performed at FCG has become more challenging
with strict statutory deadlines, interaction with the audit and
inspection teams. Being the owners of the financial numbers,
quality of information generated and presented to the
stakeholders is definitely a key element.
Team members at FCG have always ensured compliance
with the challenging deadlines which sometimes comes at
the cost of working very long hours.
As per practice, the challenges in terms of finalization
of annual accounts, timely printing of annual financial
statements and addressing shareholders at the AGM, have
been successfully met.
Voluntary disclosures have been made in the financial
statements, therefore managing to retain Best Corporate
Report Award for consecutive two years.
On a concluding note, year 2014 has brought significant
operational challenges which were duly countered through
dedication, teamwork and motivation with the commitment to
deliver on similar lines and moving forward.
by Khurram Saeed
“It’s all about discipline.” – The FCG’s Motto.
25 | LIFE @ MCB
•

by Salman Ferozi, Mohsin Dar, Usman Shehzad
Catch up on the IT Group’s fast developments
Information
Technology Group
In this era of highly competitive
economy, the success in every industry
is reliant on innovative products and
technology infrastructure to maintain
the quality of service to its customers
which has been demonstrated by MCB,
which can be seen in the Bank’s slogan;
Bank for Life
From being a mere technology hub,
the IT Group of the Bank has
transformed itself into a facilitator in
the Banks‘ economy and is being
increasingly acknowledged as the most
significant differentiating factor in the
business‘s success.
MCB Bank has gained its reputation not
only from its substantial financial status
but also from offering IT enabled quality
services to its customers. ITG has been
continuously supporting the business to
always stay ahead in the industry through
customer centric approach.
Information Technology Group (ITG)
of MCB Bank Limited. The same is
expertly driven by a team of committed
professionals, providing innovative and
efficient solutions to achieve and
nurture strategic objectives and goals
of business as well as other support
groups under the guidance of robust
governance model of IT Steering
Committee.
The IT Board Committee and collective
wisdom were used to serve the internal
as well external customers of the Bank.
In pursuant to ITG’s Vision & Mission,
the following are of paramount focus in
2014 duly complimented by vigorous
IT Strategy flexible enough to adapt the
changing organizational priorities and
business goals.
• Strengthening Management &
Governance Structure;
• IT Infrastructure & Operations,
Solutions & Services;
• Centralization of Technology
investment & Software
Development;
• Information Security;
• Business Continuity &
Information Systems Disaster
Recovery;
• Underlying Policies &
Procedures to ensure adequacy
and effectiveness of IT Delivery.
Amplification of Successful Telepresence Experience:
In year 2010, MCB Bank acquired revolutionary immersive
technology for video conferencing launched by CISCO,
CISCO Telepresence Solution.
To fulfil continuous need of point-to-point meetings on
video conferencing infrastructure between cross functional
teams from different groups stationed in distant cities,
the Bank needed a technology that could gather its dispersed
audience into one conferencing facility, which led to
the decision of acquiring the latest and upgraded
point-to-multipoint video conferencing solution, inclusive
of expansion in Telepresence infrastructure at domestic and
international offices of the Bank. Today, all Video
Conferencing equipment can be connected with each other
as well as with the Telepresence and Vice Versa.
MCB has revitalized its Enterprise Data Network,
in order to:
• Establish Two site redundant model Lahore (Primary) and
Karachi (DR).
• Standardize the network infrastructure to minimize the
operational expenditure.
• Achieve State-of-the-art 10 Gigabit network infrastructure
backbone in Data Centre; which provides robust and high
availability to all business critical applications and servers.
• Provide secure and reliable network infrastructure in Data
Centres and at internet gateway level by implementing
state-of-the-art security appliances with highest data
encryption and throughput.
• Provide fully redundant secure network infrastructure.
• Enhance Network Capacity in core routers and switches to
cater current as well as new requirements.
Amplification of Successful Telepresence Experience:
In year 2010, MCB Bank acquired revolutionary immersive
technology for video conferencing launched by CISCO,
CISCO Telepresence Solution.
To fulfil continuous need of point-to-point meetings on
video conferencing infrastructure between cross functional
teams from different groups stationed in distant cities,
the Bank needed a technology that could gather its dispersed
audience into one conferencing facility, which led to
the decision of acquiring the latest and upgraded
point-to-multipoint video conferencing solution, inclusive
of expansion in Telepresence infrastructure at domestic and
international offices of the Bank. Today, all Video
Conferencing equipment can be connected with each other
as well as with the Telepresence and Vice Versa.
MCB has revitalized its Enterprise Data Network,
in order to:
• Establish Two site redundant model Lahore (Primary) and
Karachi (DR).
• Standardize the network infrastructure to minimize the
operational expenditure.
• Achieve State-of-the-art 10 Gigabit network infrastructure
backbone in Data Centre; which provides robust and high
availability to all business critical applications and servers.
• Provide secure and reliable network infrastructure in Data
Centres and at internet gateway level by implementing
state-of-the-art security appliances with highest data
encryption and throughput.
• Provide fully redundant secure network infrastructure.
• Enhance Network Capacity in core routers and switches to
cater current as well as new requirements.
• Finalization of Short Term IT Strategy (STS) FY2014 by
aligning ITG’s roadmap with Business’s deliverables.
• IPPhone Locking Phase-II (Implementation of security controls
over IPPhones).
• Conversion of legacy application platform (Conversion of
Switch Claim DB fromAccess to MS SQLServer).
• Integration of RTGS system with CBS & Treasury System.
(NOT COMPLETED as per my knowledge).
• Revamp of existing internet banking: Oracle FlexCube Direct
Banking.
• ESB (Standard Middleware) – Expansion in Integration of
business applications with ESB Layer with an objective to
achieve optimum utilization of standard middleware.
• Fee Charging Mechanism on MCB SMSAlerts facility on
CBS Transactions.
• Automation: ElectronicAccount Opening Form
(Roll out to branches).
• IPPhone Installation at 400A-Grade Branches.
• Revamp of Internet/Email Gateway Solution.
• BancassuranceApplication System.
• IBAN Phase 2 (IBAN implementation in SSO).
• TATApplication: Developed to cover the business needs
of tracking/monitoring of different financing facilities.
• Reward Point Management System.
• Development of Warehouse Management System for
identification, tracking and maintenance of ITAssets.
• Review,Approval and Implementation of ‘Information
Technology Policy’.
Systems Disaster Recovery Plan 2014’
• Finalization of Short Term IT Strategy (STS) FY2014 by
aligning ITG’s roadmap with Business’s deliverables.
• IPPhone Locking Phase-II (Implementation of security controls
over IPPhones).
• Conversion of legacy application platform (Conversion of
Switch Claim DB fromAccess to MS SQLServer).
• Integration of RTGS system with CBS & Treasury System.
(NOT COMPLETED as per my knowledge).
• Revamp of existing internet banking: Oracle FlexCube Direct
Banking.
• ESB (Standard Middleware) – Expansion in Integration of
business applications with ESB Layer with an objective to
achieve optimum utilization of standard middleware.
• Fee Charging Mechanism on MCB SMSAlerts facility on
CBS Transactions.
• Automation: ElectronicAccount Opening Form
(Roll out to branches).
• IPPhone Installation at 400A-Grade Branches.
• Revamp of Internet/Email Gateway Solution.
• BancassuranceApplication System.
• IBAN Phase 2 (IBAN implementation in SSO).
• TATApplication: Developed to cover the business needs
of tracking/monitoring of different financing facilities.
• Reward Point Management System.
• Development of Warehouse Management System for
identification, tracking and maintenance of ITAssets.
Technology Policy’.
Systems Disaster Recovery Plan 2014’
Group Highlights
ITG empowered the delivery of the Upgraded Core Banking
System, which includes:
MCB has revamped its Corporate Website
• IBM Power 780 Racks Upgrade.
• Induction of best of the breed IBM PureFlex Servers (Compute Nodes).
• Necessary Development in TPM & Integration of mission critical application in
surround with CBS Ambit v8.5.
• Migration of Oracle IAS to Oracle WebLogic.
• Ensuring to run upgraded version of CBS to smoothly by addressing post go-live
issues on war footing by carrying out successful performance tuning of Database
layer, OS layer and Application Container Layer.
• Acquisition of Enterprise License of Oracle-FCUB, Oracle- FCDB
& Oracle-FCCM for World Wide use taking into account MCB Bank’s overseas expansion projects.
MCB has revamped its Corporate Website
• IBM Power 780 Racks Upgrade.
• Induction of best of the breed IBM PureFlex Servers (Compute Nodes).
• Necessary Development in TPM & Integration of mission critical application in
surround with CBS Ambit v8.5.
• Migration of Oracle IAS to Oracle WebLogic.
• Ensuring to run upgraded version of CBS to smoothly by addressing post go-live
issues on war footing by carrying out successful performance tuning of Database
layer, OS layer and Application Container Layer.
• Acquisition of Enterprise License of Oracle-FCUB, Oracle- FCDB
& Oracle-FCCM for World Wide use taking into account MCB Bank’s overseas expansion projects.
Other Accomplishments during Q1 and Q2 2014 include:
Priorities and Business Goals.
>>

In order to be able to meet customer demands, the IT Group is
determined to follow a prudent asset procurement plan to invest
in technology.
• State of the art Data Center Severs Technology (IBM
Power 780) and SRDF based EMC VMAX Storage with
Zero Data Loss & replication in Synchronous mode;
• Microsoft Compliant Bank: By adopting Microsoft
collaboration and business productivity MCB Bank has
enhanced the efficiency of its staff to provide services to
its customers by 30 percent and maintain its technological
edge in banking sector;
• The deployment of latest technology infrastructure to
strengthen Bank’s enterprise data network that includes
the first ever implementation of Juniper’s Micro Q-Fabric
equipment in Pakistan;
• First ever deployment of IBM PureFlex engineered
solution in the financial industry in Pakistan;
• Pioneer in implementation of SBDC cloud environment
for 1,000 nodes the financial sector in Pakitan;
• Implementation of ORACLE FlexCube Direct Banking
as Internet Banking Solution for the Bank is a trend
setting initiative with delivery in a record time;
• Multisite connectivity for CISCO TelePresence and Video
Conferencing Solution as a unique initiative by the Bank;
• Upgrade of Technology Stack for Core Banking System
and other critical Business Applications;
• Enhanced, secured and organized nationwide Dual
Communication Media in 100% branches network
and Campuses;
• ECM (Electronic Content Management) based Email
and File Archiving solution to ensure compliance with
Regulator’s instructions;
• The first Oracle Compliant Bank in Pakistan;
• One of the Largest footprint of ATMs in Pakistan;
• State of the art Data Center Severs Technology (IBM
Power 780) and SRDF based EMC VMAX Storage with
Zero Data Loss & replication in Synchronous mode;
• Microsoft Compliant Bank: By adopting Microsoft
collaboration and business productivity MCB Bank has
enhanced the efficiency of its staff to provide services to
its customers by 30 percent and maintain its technological
edge in banking sector;
• The deployment of latest technology infrastructure to
strengthen Bank’s enterprise data network that includes
the first ever implementation of Juniper’s Micro Q-Fabric
equipment in Pakistan;
• First ever deployment of IBM PureFlex engineered
solution in the financial industry in Pakistan;
• Pioneer in implementation of SBDC cloud environment
for 1,000 nodes the financial sector in Pakitan;
• Implementation of ORACLE FlexCube Direct Banking
as Internet Banking Solution for the Bank is a trend
setting initiative with delivery in a record time;
• Multisite connectivity for CISCO TelePresence and Video
Conferencing Solution as a unique initiative by the Bank;
• Upgrade of Technology Stack for Core Banking System
and other critical Business Applications;
• Enhanced, secured and organized nationwide Dual
Communication Media in 100% branches network
and Campuses;
• ECM (Electronic Content Management) based Email
and File Archiving solution to ensure compliance with
Regulator’s instructions;
• The first Oracle Compliant Bank in Pakistan;
• One of the Largest footprint of ATMs in Pakistan;
The Bank has recognized & demonstrated the competitive advantages inherent in IT and has rapidly increased business levels
and profitability by being the First Mover in the following segments:
The Bank has recognized & demonstrated the competitive advantages inherent in IT and has rapidly increased business levels
and profitability by being the First Mover in the following segments:
• Data Center secondary site revamp into In-House
BCRS facility.
• Internet Segment Upgrade.
• Upgrade of Branch end network equipment.
• Expansion of Telepresence solution.
• Implementation of Security Operation Center (SOC).
• Acquisition and Deployment of “Derivative” solution.
• Feasibility study for “Workflow management solution”
and “Project Management solution”.
• DR drill of critical applications.
• Deployment of Oracle FCCM for AML case management
& “Know your customer” (KYC).
• Acquisition/Development and implementation of Core
banking system (CBS) at Bahrain, Dubai, Ireland & other
international operations.
• Integration of CRM with Core banking system (CBS):
• Improvement in customer experience.
• Integration of Euronet CMS with Avanza Unison-II
(RDV) to manage additional IDs for call center agents
• Technology Infrastructure readiness for Banking
Subsidiary in Dubai.
• Technology Infrastructure readiness for New Islamic Bank
• Migration of Static Data Management role to SDM division
• CRM roll out to Branches.
• Operation Risk solution (In-House development)
• Automation of STR (Suspicious Transaction Reporting)
• Upgradation of Core Technology Infrastructure (Power
780 & EMC Storage).
• Data Center secondary site revamp into In-House
BCRS facility.
• Internet Segment Upgrade.
• Upgrade of Branch end network equipment.
• Expansion of Telepresence solution.
• Implementation of Security Operation Center (SOC).
• Acquisition and Deployment of “Derivative” solution.
• Feasibility study for “Workflow management solution”
and “Project Management solution”.
• DR drill of critical applications.
• Deployment of Oracle FCCM for AML case management
& “Know your customer” (KYC).
• Acquisition/Development and implementation of Core
banking system (CBS) at Bahrain, Dubai, Ireland & other
international operations.
• Integration of CRM with Core banking system (CBS):
• Improvement in customer experience.
• Integration of Euronet CMS with Avanza Unison-II
(RDV) to manage additional IDs for call center agents
• Technology Infrastructure readiness for Banking
Subsidiary in Dubai.
• Technology Infrastructure readiness for New Islamic Bank
• Migration of Static Data Management role to SDM division
• CRM roll out to Branches.
• Operation Risk solution (In-House development)
• Automation of STR (Suspicious Transaction Reporting)
• Upgradation of Core Technology Infrastructure (Power
780 & EMC Storage).
All along, it must be remembered that IT is not an end in itself, but acquired and deployed to serve business requirements
efficiently. IT strategies (LTS & STS) have been sewn into the fabric of the bank’s vision and business strategy. In order to be
able to meet customer demands, IT Group is determined to follow a prudent asset procurement plan to invest in technology,
upgrade technology infrastructure and deploy new technology solutions:
All along, it must be remembered that IT is not an end in itself, but acquired and deployed to serve business requirements
efficiently. IT strategies (LTS & STS) have been sewn into the fabric of the bank’s vision and business strategy. In order to be
able to meet customer demands, IT Group is determined to follow a prudent asset procurement plan to invest in technology,
upgrade technology infrastructure and deploy new technology solutions:
Market Leader and Trend Setter:
Looking Forward 2015: Both Revolution & Evolution:
•
Group Highlights
Review of Islamic Banking Product Manuals:
In order to comply with regulatory requirements and keeping
abreast of latest changes in Islamic Banking (IB) market, the
following IB products were reviewed and approved from
competent approving authority.
• Diminishing Musharka (Equipment).
• Sharia Complaint Bank Guarantee.
• Murabaha.
• Salamat Car Ijarah.
Activities of Credit Department:
Owing to timely and justified contests along with evidences
against SBPAudit objections, IBG has succeeded to bring the
“IBG’s Specific” annexures at Zero in the year 2012. Hence,
there will be no penal action due to absence of IBG’s annexures.
Operational Excellence at IBG:
• Branch Audit
During the 2nd Quarter 2014, Internal Audit of nine
Islamic Branches took place followed by successful
issuance of reports. All these nine branches have been
rated as Satisfactory. Thus, 100% results have been
achieved by team IBG.
• Service Quality
Effective from January 2014, Islamic Branches have been
taken up by Service Quality to evaluate service quality
standards. Over all Service Quality Rating for Islamic
Branches for the M/O April, May & June 2014 remained
above 90% (A Category) showing implementation of high
service quality standard and provision of required services
to Islamic Customers.
Participation in Conferences:
• IBG participated in a “Global Forum on Islamic Finance
(GFIF-2014)” organized by COMSATS Institute in March
2014. The theme of this conference was “Developments and
the Way Forward”.
• MCB - Islamic Banking Group, with the support of CCM,
also participated in “CFO-Meeting Future Challenges”
organized by ICAP on March 13th 2014.
• MCB - Islamic Banking Group (IBG), also participated in
“IFEC” The Third Islamic Finance Expo & Conference-2014,
organized by Publicity Channel under the technical
support of SBP and Riphah University along with ICMAP,
Shaikh Zayed Islamic center, FPCCI & KCCI on 24th &
25th April 2014.
by Mubeen Akhtar and Haroon Siddiqui
Shariah Compliant Banking Exellence.
.
29 | LIFE @ MCB

The ‘Removal of
Night Guards’ is
one of the most
important projects
being implemented
by the Group.
Given the prevailing law and order
situation and ever deteriorating
security environment, it has become
difficult to be able to conduct a
successful business. This aspect is
more prominent in case of Banking
Industry, which is currently the victim
of a spate of bank robberies. MCB
Security Department is doing
its best to provide a secure and safe
working environment to all its
branches to ensure security of staff,
customers and bank assets.
In its efforts to accomplish this
daunting task, the Security Department
enjoys and appreciates the support
of all stake holders especially
Business, Operations and Human
Resource Group.
The year 2014 has seen unprecedented
surge in bank robberies. Unfortunately
more than 56 incidents of robbery
have so far taken place during the
current year. By the grace of Allah
Almighty, the Security Team of MCB
has stood up to the challenge and has
been able to minimize the risk. It must
be acknowledged that the security
guards have also displayed courage
and dedication and some of them even
lost their lives while protecting the life
of the staff and bank assets. The Bank,
while honoring the sacrifices rendered
by the security guards has extended
financial support to the aggrieved
families to reduce their distress.
We are aware of the increasing
security costs and have come up with
innovative solutions to replace the
physical guarding with electronic
surveillance and monitoring systems,
without compromising the branch
security. This initiative will save
millions of rupees in the upcoming
years. The ‘Removal of Night Guards’
from the branches is one of the most
important projects being implemented.
So far over 230 branches have been
made guard less and approximately
600 branches are likely to be
converted by the end of this year.
The process of up-gradation of
security systems and formulation
of matching response to the
ever-changing techniques and modus
operandi of crime is another important
functions of the Security Department.
We have come up with cost effective,
viable solutions against ATM lifting
and effective access control in the
branches.
The evaluation of security situation and
provision of early warning of anticipated
law and order situation has helped the
branches to maintain the required
vigilance, which helped take appropriate
measures against rioting and agitation.
The results showed that there was
bare minimum collateral damage done
to our branches during strikes,
agitation and rallies against electric
load shedding, price hike etc.
We bow our heads before Allah
Almighty for His blessings and help
in making our efforts fruitful in
performing our duties under these
testing times.
CSR
& Security Group
by Akbar Ali
Learn more about the unsung
heroes – The Security Team.
At MCB, we honor these unsung heroes.
.
Group Highlights
by Imran Rashid
Successful operations make a successful bank.
Operations Group
Project Ambit
(Core Banking Upgrade)
The Bank has switched over to an
upgraded version of its Core Banking
System (CBS) from SunGard’s
Symbols v8.2 to the Ambit CBS v8.5
on March 17, 2014 within the planned
timeframe. The upgraded version is one
of the more advanced banking solutions
and the integration of several systems
with most complex data migration
made this project one of its kind in the
financial sector in Pakistan.
The upgrade brings significant
advantages for the Bank including
enriched functionalities through process
automation and straight-through
integration capabilities; enhanced the
implementation of modules relating to
Advances (Limit monitoring & Loan
management), improved user access
and controls, technology platform
upgrade and centralized architecture
for improved maintenance/support.
In addition to the dedicated Project Team,
the Project was managed through a very
strong governance structure. Under
Chairmanship of the President, a Steering
Committee comprising members from
Bank’s Management Committee
/SunGard’s senior executives and a
Working Group having members from
various business/support groups were
involved. Moreover, cross functional
support in the form of human resource
and infrastructure continues to be
extended by all groups within the Bank.
The Bank prepared a comprehensive
education & communication
framework that catered to all kinds of
internal and external education &
communication needs. Intimation of the
Upgrade as well as Service downtime
to our valued customers was done
through various modes/channels.
By going live with the Upgrade, the
Bank successfully enabled all delivery
services for its customers. During the
system stabilization phase post going
Live, the Bank remained cognizant of
the inconvenience faced by our valued
customers due to few teething issues
and hence strong coordination and help
from our solution provider (SunGard),
senior management including the
President empowered the front-line
force to provide uninterrupted servicing
assistance/ solutions to the customers.
Business Process
Management Division
BPMD continued to provide functional
support in developing and
strengthening business processes
especially in the backdrop of various
system implementations, changes in
regulations, products and processes
helping businesses prepare for seamless
launch/enhancement of new/existing
products, channels, and services
including but not limited to
Commercial launch of MCB Lite,
re-launch of Personal Loan, New
Internet Banking, New Corporate
Website, Update of Trade Finance
Operations Manual, etc. Additionally,
with respect to the Upgrade of Core
Banking System, pre-Live/go-Live
activities along with revised
business/operational processes were
documented and disseminated to
various verticals of the Bank to ensure
uninterrupted services to our customers.
In order to achieve account number
standardization resulting in efficient
and effective processing of electronic
funds transfers transactions, State Bank
of Pakistan (SBP) - Payment Systems
Department issued directives to the
Banks to implement International Bank
Customer service, productivity, enhancement in controls & compliance within the Bank remained the key priorities of The
Group. It continued rendering service to Bank’s customers and various functions of the Bank, besides providing operational
oversight and support to them. Insights from Year 2013 revealed 15% growth in transaction volumes (for TSD, COD, WBOD,
CLRBOD, CAD & TCMOD), resulting an increase in efficiency (transaction volume per person) by 8%. Moreover, most of
the entities in Operations Group were awarded a ‘Good’ or ‘Satisfactory’ audit rating whereas no area was rated below ‘Fair’
or ‘Average’ for audits conducted/reported during the period. Significant highlights from various verticals of the Group are:
The “Green” Team.
>>
31 | LIFE @ MCB
.

Account Number (IBAN). Accordingly,
a project team lead by BPMD was
setup, which was required to build
capacity, systems and processes to
implement IBAN in two phases. After
successful implementation of Phase 1
in 2012 (generation & notification to
customers), Phase II i.e. operational use
for financial transactions (domestic/
international inter-bank remittances)
has also been completed in 2013 as per
SBP provided mandate/timelines.
COSO documents pertaining to Loans
& Advances, Deposits, Fixed Assets,
Cash Management, Interest Income &
Expense, Remittances & Charges,
Islamic banking, Remote Banking,
Trade Finance, Purchases & Payables,
Financial Reporting, Budgeting, MIS
and Centralized Processes were
reviewed as per COSO based
framework of internal controls to
evaluate control design effectiveness.
Centralized Operations Division
Centralized Operations Division, now
in eleven cities with eleven Central
Processing Units, four Cash Houses,
ten Privilege Centers and Global
Transaction Banking Operations
continued to provide functional support
to all businesses for centralized
processing especially in the backdrop
of higher business volumes, e.g.
Account Opening was centralized for
1023 branches against a target of 1000
by December 2013. The division, for
consecutive three years has earned
‘Good Rating (A)” in Management
Audit whilst meeting the performance
standards coupled with strong controls
& regulatory compliance.
Consumer Lending & Remote
Banking Operations
Consumer Lending & Remote Banking
Operations (CLRBOD) has been
actively engaged with Consumer
Lending and Digital Banking
businesses providing platform for
various operational functions like card
issuance, mobile account opening, loan
processing, merchant payments,
settlements, chargebacks, ATM
disputes handling etc. New additions to
the portfolio include wallet opening,
annual fee charge and transactional
settlement of MCB Lite and takeover
of RTC Operations from Business.
Significant improvement has been
achieved in timely resolution of ATM
claim settlement cases as per the SBP
mandated TAT as 34% improvement
was witnessed in 2013 alone.
Upcoming initiatives include
E-Commerce, Billers Payment and Lite
Agent Networks.
Treasury & Capital Market
Operations Division
Bank’s Treasury penetration into new
markets along with enhancements in
product capabilities, especially
through derivatives/structured
products such as FX options &
verseas funding sources, opened
doors for new business techniques
and avenues. Treasury Operations
continued to support these new
business initiatives while handling
strong business growth in areas of
foreign exchange, money market,
inter-bank funds transfers through
RTGS, home remittance business
and Investors Portfolio Securities.
Our offshore teammates.
Intimation of the Upgrade as well as Service downtime to our
valued customers was done through various modes & channels.
Controls & Systems
Parameterization Division
The division continued to expand its
functional outreach and support to
various groups. Static Data
Management Unit took over ‘Static
Parameterization’ of Islamic Core
Banking System. Furthermore, they
provided support for User Acceptance
Testing of Reward Point Management
System & MCB Internet Banking.
Throughoptimalusageoftechnologyand
movingtowardspaperlessenvironment,the
SignatureManagementUnitlaunchedan
“ElectronicBookofInter-branchSignatories/
AuthorizedSignatories’enablingtheBankto
discontinuepaperbookthusimprovingthe
TATforasignatureupdateandsaving
printingcosts.
The Business Continuity Management
team performed site testing of Wholesale
Banking Branches & Offshore business
units for the first time along with
disseminating awareness by effective use
of bilingual communication. On Vendor
Management front, control procedures
for enlistment have been further
tightened to ensure reliable vendors are
enlisted on Bank’s panel.
General Services Division
GSD has been instrumental in
providing infrastructural support to
all major office buildings/branches
with respect to property acquisition,
construction, renovation, power
backup, HVAC and supply chain
management, facilities management
and travel services. The division
successfully completed renovation
of forty-two existing branches,
construction of ten new branches
along with purchase of thirteen
branch properties in Q3/Q4 2013.
In order to preserve energy in national
interest, the Bank has embarked on a
project to study the viability and
effectiveness of Solar Energy. Four
locations have been selected where the
Solar Power Systems are being installed.
Pilot study entails free of cost installation
of 3KW and 5KW Solar Power Systems
on trial basis for six months. During this
period, these installations will support in
effective management of the electricity
load and is expected to save 50%
operational cost of the fuel powered
electricity generator and determine the
investment payback period of three years
as anticipated. The hybrid power
generation and supply model ambits
energy supply through solar, commercial
electricity supply, battery bank and fuel
powered electricity generators especially
designed to improve power consumption
and save fuel.
Solar panels fixed on MCB’s rooftop.
In order to preserve
energy in national
interest, the Bank
has embarked on a
project to study the
viability and
effectiveness of
Solar Energy.
.
33 | LIFE @ MCB

by Tehmina Shafi Khan
Redefining Success
Human Resource
Management Group
HR’s penultimate
achievement
concerns the
success of all.
We all strive for it, few attain it. The
road to success is rarely smooth but
those who are “strong in will”, are
always ready “to strive, to seek, to find,
and not to yield.” 2013/2014 has
proved exactly this, as far as the
accomplishments of HRMG at MCB
Bank Limited are concerned.
Amidst the consistent team effort, a few
shining stars stand out.
Saima Naveed and HR-FSD team led
by Umar Naeem, set up the SAP HR
Management system, and implemented
a functional subsidiary database for
expense management.
Mubashar Haroon (Compensation)
helped conceive and later executed the
successful VSS campaign, as well as
the pivotal Branch Scorecard for
Performance Management System. He
terms this a “positive, logical initiative
benefitting the Bank and employees.”
Saqib Rasheed and the Recruitment
team handled the VSS recruitment
challenge through working with RBG
to map out and fill vacancies on real
time basis. Saqib credits “my team and
RBG’s support”.
Fawad Ahmed Khan, revamped the
DA policy and centralized the process
at HR, significantly reducing TATs,
cutting costs by millions and more
importantly, enabling the bank to
dispense speedy justice.
Nadia Aslam and her HR-OPS team
also worked brilliantly with HR-FSD
to streamline Operations and handle
VSS volumes.
Faiza Qayyum’s (Policy) work in
developing seven HR Policies with
procedures and SOPs is another feather
in HR’s cap. Furthermore, a team of
enthusiastic HRMG members, led by
Ms Faiza Qayyum, worked over
several weeks towards an initiative
taken by the President concerning the
Strategy 2013-2017. This project
involved the Account opening process
for NTB customers in 2014, and
highlighted several areas for
improvement which are already under
implementation.
Tariq Latif (HR Compliance) ensured that
our ITAM andAudit issues were resolved.
Saqib Mushtaq (OD & Manpower
Planning) helped manage the HR
budget via lower level induction and
staggered hiring.
Faizur Rahman Faizi (Training)
worked tirelessly to ensure that training
objectives were surpassed despite
human resource constraints. Under his
supervision and guidance, June 2014
saw the launch of the new L&D center
at Lahore MCB Center. The new
building provides a state of the art
environment for learning, and has
already imparted training to many
TBO branches alongside several in
house sessions, CBM and CBOM
courses. September 2014 also saw the
center playing host to the Senior
Management, as the first MC meeting
was conducted successfully here.
One small clarification from all our
stars…they were only as good as
their teams!
HR’s penultimate achievement
concerns the success of all. The release
of 2013 PA benefits was completed in
March 2014 this year. HRMG hopes to
cross new horizons as 2014 continues.
Our team members have excelled
thanks to their vision and capabilities.
They proved that, “They can because
they think they can”. Bravo.
Group Highlights
36 | LIFE @ MCB
A glimpse of team HR at MCB

Cover Story
37 | LIFE @ MCB
by Mehboob Elahi
Service Appreciation Award: Service Punch 2014
A customer perception survey on “Customer Service in
Pakistan” was conducted by a research company “Active8”
in partnership with rozee.pk in the second quarter of 2014.
There were 13,800 people who had participated in the survey.
According to this survey, MCB Bank was voted as one of the
top three service providers as it won maximum number of votes
in Banking Sector category and shared the “top position” with
Standard Chartered Bank.
Also, Pakistan’s first service conference “Service Punch 2014”
was arranged byActive8 in collaboration with Pakistan Human
Capital Forum (PHCF) on May 22, 2014. The objective of this
conference was to bring together business executives and corporate
professionals for an interactive session. This was the first
conference of its kind, arranged to recognize the crucial importance
of customer service in growth and development of an organization,
and to empower a diverse audience with service leadership mindset
by inculcating ‘serving to succeed’attitude.
Mr. Najeeb Malik - Head of Service Quality was requested to
receive the first ServiceAppreciationAward during the event and
was also selected as one of the panelists along with Mr. Mohammad
Ali Khan from HRMG.
This award was made possible by the continuous efforts of
Service Quality Division and active participation of all other
Groups who have helped in creating a customer centric
environment across the Bank.
Field Activities - CENTRAL TEAM
The India Show
FPCCI in collaboration with The Indian Ministry of Trade & Finance, TDAP & FICCI
organized “The India Show” at Expo Centre Lahore from 14th till 16th February 2014.
MCB Bank got the opportunity to provide banking facility to Indian Business Community
and promote the bank amongst local visitors.
BH RBG Central Aamir Ali Rizvi was personally involved in making this event a success. Our Lahore Circle under the
leadership of GM Lahore Zahid Hussain was the host along with different support units of the Bank.
The event was a great success and it looked like an MCB Show. Business community and other audience showed keen interest
in the Bank. Our team took maximum mileage out of the vibrant participation and collected reasonable leads for Trade,
Liability, Consumer and Commercial Products. Great enthusiasm and tremendous team work was the secret of this success.
Big thanks to the Marketing and Product Team for extending their full support.
Market Storming event at Al-Latif Centre Lahore
This event was organized by MCB Main Boulevard Branch
Gulberg from 20th till 22nd January 2014 and was a great
success in terms of identifying business leads from one of
the key commercial hubs of the city. The objective of this
activity was to introduce & promote different products of
MCB related to Liability, Remote Banking & Consumer
Banking. The teams returned with new leads and referrals
for business purposes.
NORTH TEAM
Mr. Kamran Rasool, Group Head-CSR & Security
distributed awards to two security guards and widow of a
deceased guard on the occasion of cash award distribution
ceremony at B/o Sector F-1 Mirpur AK on 12-11-2013. Mr.
Farhan Baig, BH North, Mr. Jahangeer Nazar, AHON, Major
® Zafarul Hassan, RSO-North, Mr. Ahmed Nawaz Kayani,
GM Jhelum and Mr. Muhammad Ilyas, RH Muzaffarabad
were also present.
The Team, Left to Right: Team MCB at “Service Punch 2014”
GM Lahore Zahid Hussain along with RH Lahore West Adnan Hamayun Khan
distributing giveaways to prospective customers at “Indian Expo” – Feb-14
“The India Show” at Expo Centre Lahore
GM Lahore Zahid Hussain along with RH Lahore West Adnan Hamayun Khan
distributing giveaways to prospective customers at “Indian Expo” – Feb-14
Mr. Farhan Baig, BH-North and Mr. Nasir Ayub, GM Islamabad with the
members of Lahore High Court -Rawalpindi Bench at the eve of ATM
inauguration at Rawalpindi.
The objective of this conference
was to bring together business
executives and corporate
professionals for an interactive
session.
Group Highlights
>>
>>

Our office boy at LMQ Road, Multan - Mirza Noshad Baig,
who does his chores and his core responsibilities remarkably
well observed that his branch was behind in its deposit budget
for which the entire branch team was making an effort. He felt
obligated to contribute as well and followed through. In the
process he brought in several accounts including a NTB for Rs.
12.5 M. His commitment and passion can only be experienced
in person. He is our Hero. He is MCB's hero.
Baig's contribution was celebrated by awarding him a token
of appreciation by Bushiness Head RBG East - Mr. Zargham
Khan Durrani.
by Our Team Member
Mirza Noshad Baig
MCB Hero
PAF Golf Club ISB- Spring Season
Match 2014 – Sponsored By Mcb Bank Ltd SOUTH TEAM
Trophy distribution ceremony.
EAST TEAM
Mr. FarhanBaig-Business Head, North giving award to BM Hayatabad Branch
Mr. Umar Zia, along with Mr. Qamar Zaman-RSM Unsecured Lending".
Hayatabad Branch (1448), Peshawar Region achieved “PAN Pakistan No. 1
Position in Credit Cards approvals for the month of March 2014”.
RBG Head North (Ex-BH RBG East) presenting certificate to
Mr. Idrees Shaikh RH DG Khan for winning 1st 2nd Innings of East
Premier League (EPL).
RBG Head North (Ex-BH RBG East) presenting certificate to ROM
Sahiwal for attaining 1 optimized Branch Category.
RBG Head North (Ex-BH RBG East) crowning the PUG to Mr. Irshad
Ali Zangejo RH BWP for winning last innings of EPL.
RBG Head South crowning PUG of East Premier League (EPL) 2014
Round 1 to Mr. Altaf Hussain Gorar - RH Larkana
Awarding of certificates by GM-Quetta to Quetta Cantt Team
(Top performer branch of Quetta Circle)
Inauguration of MCB Prince Road, Quetta Branch was done by RBG
Head South (Ex-BH RBG South) opened under ABEP-2013
MCB team (Lahore) with winning trophy of ACE Super League 2014
Left to Right: Majid Mukhtar (BFC East), M. Sufiyan (BM – LMQ Road Branch),
Zargham Khan Durrani (Business Head RBG East), Mirza Noshad Baig (Tea Boy
– LMQ Road Branch), Sultan Zeb (General Manager Multan Circle), Ghulam
Mustafa Bhutto (ROM Multan), Abdul Haseeb (Business Coordinator East).
.
39| LIFE @ MCB

Mr. M. Shoaib @ MCB House Lahore
Mr. Mehtab @ CCM
Lunch @ MCB Tower
Mr. Kamran Butt @ CCM
IT staff @ MCB House Lahore
Mr. Ghulam Mustafa with Mr. Usman Sharif - HR @ MCB
Mr. Baber Kamal - HR @ MCB
Mr. Shirazi - Senior Security Staff
Mr. Asim Suri Head Compliance Training (North) presenting a certificate to Mr. Waqas Mehmood at MCB TBO
Farewell ceremony Batch 43 alongwith Mr. Agha Saeed Khan Group Head - Operations
Good Cheer
41 | LIFE @ MCB
@
Mr. Nadeem Hameed Operations Group
Allinadayof
.

MCB-Newsletter-07 Final

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