Citi's banking operations grow to over $1bn balance sheet in Pakistan

Citi - a leading global bank - says it has continued to facilitate financing to the Government of Pakistan and providing trade finance, working capital, and term loans to a range of clients including multinational corporations (MNCs), large corporates, and banks, accordingly growing its country specific balance sheet to over $1 billion as of June 30, 2026.

“We are doing it [providing access to finance] every day as part of our balance sheet. And if you look at our balance sheet…it is almost above a billion dollars [in Pakistan] as of the end of last year,” Citi Head of Services Shahmir Khaliq told Business Recorder during his recent visit to Pakistan.

“That billion dollar balance sheet has both assets and liabilities. So, as part of the asset picture in that balance sheet, you will have a full financing book that we are running with our client groups,” he said.

Citi facilitates almost $1 trillion of financing across the globe every year through its pipelines, import financing, export financing, export credit agency financing. This is the Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) or the export agencies owned by the governments around the world as they look to help their equipment manufacturers supply equipment into emerging markets or into markets where infrastructure investment is happening.

“And so in Pakistan, our strategy is no different. We think about the clients we service…we provide financing lines and help them on both the import side and export side, and look to continue to help our clients.”

Pakistan has remained a key market within Citi global banking operations in 90 markets, he said, adding the bank has been present in the country since 1961.

“Pakistan is a significant economy of 250 million people. Within the country, MNCs, large corporations, banks and broker dealers, and obviously the government of Pakistan, State Bank of Pakistan are all Citi clients.

“Our goal is to help them run and manage their business, provide financing, provide capital market access and advisory services, provide treasury services, hedging services across the board,” Khaliq said.

“Pakistan through 1961 to 2026 has gone through many crises. So, as these crises have unfolded, sometimes we have had different macro environments, stressed environment, or a great environment. But our goal, our aspiration is to continue to help our clients, regardless of what’s happening in the environment.”

According to Citi’s official, Pakistan government has issued a couple of new Request for Proposals (RFPs) to raise financing through launching Eurobonds and Sukuk at global capital markets.

“They (the government) are looking for some incremental avenues of capital, and our goal will be to use our global footprint to provide them access to that capital…,helping the government access capital markets.”

Khaliq said Citi’s target market in Pakistan is multinational corporations.

“So, if multinationals grow, hence we grow. It is not just about organic growth with them, it is also that we also are here to compete with other banks in the industry. So, yes, if the imports that have grown for the country, if they’re stemming from the multinationals that are operating in the country, then definitely we would see that growth on our book system [balance sheet].” he said. “We have stayed in Pakistan and continue to execute. Our goal is to continue to do what we are doing and hopefully grow our business as we think about the future.”

Citi’s official said Pakistan has remained a very profitable franchise.

“A, it is a profitable franchise. Secondly, we’re servicing some of the biggest multinationals and the biggest banks locally here. So it is very important for those clients that they see Citibank servicing them.” he maintained. “The future of financial services is increasingly real-time, digital and AI-enabled. At Citi, we’re investing in technologies such as AI, tokenisation and blockchain to help clients move money and manage liquidity more efficiently across borders.”