Karachi: Euromoney, the English-language monthly magazine focused on business and finance, has awarded HBL the accolade of ‘Pakistan’s Best Bank 2021’, a feat that follows the Asiamoney award for being the ‘Best Domestic Bank in Pakistan 2021’ earlier this year.

Euromoney, first published in 1969, is the flagship production of Euromoney Institutional Investor plc, a global business-to-business information services business. Euromoney is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a member of the FTSE 250 share index

In a statement released on Thursday, HBL said these two accolades are the most prestigious awards in the banking industry, globally.

“These awards are a recognition of HBL’s leadership performance and innovative approach in its consumer banking, commercial banking and development finance business streams, leveraging its digital banking platforms, leading the way in financial inclusion, and the launch of the Beijing branch and capturing opportunities associated with the CPEC initiative,” added the statement.

“These are undoubtedly very well-deserved accolades as they come against a backdrop of unprecedented challenging times globally, including Pakistan.”

The Euromoney citation for HBL acknowledges, “Habib Bank (HBL) is going from strength to strength under Muhammad Aurangzeb (President & CEO). Remarkably, in a year when most banks around the world were trying to stem the losses caused by Covid, HBL doubled its after-tax profits.”

HBL recorded an after-tax profit of Rs30.9 billion in calendar year 2020, according to statements available with the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX). The bottom-line figure translated to earnings per share of Rs21.06.

“The Euromoney’s citation makes specific reference to HBL’s business strength in e-payments, cards, auto and trade businesses,” added the statement.

Remarking on HBL’s rural banking/development finance initiative, the citation reads “Agriculture is a mainstay of HBL’s innovative efforts; the bank aims not only to fund farmers but deploys full-time agronomists to help with improving crop yields.”