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With a strong background in Middle Eastern banking, Burj Bank has been building a solid reputation based on integrity. Burj Bank was founded in 2007 under the name of Dawood Islamic Bank as a central pillar of Pakistan’s Islamic Banking landscape. In 2011 the bank was renamed and launched as 'Burj Bank Limited', following a massive capital injection by some Middle Eastern investors of the bank. At present, almost 85% of Burj Bank’s shareholding stems from the Middle East, with majority ownership belonging to the Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private Sector (ICD). In 2012 Burj Bank grew its deposit base by 77% and the financing portfolio also reflected a growth of 67%. The branches grew from 50 to 75, reflecting a percentage distribution network growth of 50%. The bank has entered into diverse new lines of business including SME (small- and medium-sized enterprise) banking, investment banking, agricultural financing, cash management and home Musharaka.

Al Baraka Bank has finished due diligence for the proposed merger of Burj Bank. Abid Qamar, chief spokesman at the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), said Al Baraka was given permission for due diligence of Burj Bank and they have completed the process. Summit Bank and Bank of Khyber were also interested in Burj Bank, but they did not carry out any due diligence process. The deal is expected to be completed within next three months, but the complete integration of both entities would take six to eight months. The potential deal would be a part of the significant efforts, currently being made by the SBP, to fix the problem of the small banks that fell below the minimum capital adequacy ratio requirement and minimum paid-up capital requirement.

Summit Bank has received approval from Pakistan's central bank to conduct due diligence on Burj Bank. Burj Bank held 4.4 billion rupees ($42 mn) in paid up capital as of December, compared with the regulatory minimum of 10 billion rupees. Burj Bank said it had shortlisted three financial institutions to conduct due diligence on a non-exclusive basis. It also received an extension from the central bank to meet the mimimum capital requirement until June 30.

Pakistan's banking sector enters 2015 promising more deal-making activities. State-run National Bank of Pakistan has expressed interest in potentially acquiring Burj Bank Ltd. NBP recently said it will conduct due diligence on Burj, and hoped to complete the exercise in a ‘short timeframe’. The Burj deal is being closely watched by the market, as it has so far failed to meet the central bank’s minimum capital requirement (MCR) of Rs10bn. In case the deal goes through, it remains to be seen if Burj would exist as a standalone Islamic bank, or if its operations will be merged with NBP’s Islamic banking section.

Pakistan's MCB Bank Ltd will set up a wholly owned Islamic banking subsidiary while dropping plans to take a stake in Islamic lender Burj Bank. Last month, MCB started due diligence on taking a 55 percent stake in unlisted Burj, which held assets worth 53.3 billion rupees ($547 million) as of December, but it said it would not proceed for commercial reasons. The move comes amid increased activity in Pakistan's Islamic banking sector, with regulators stepping up development efforts and lenders expanding operations. MCB currently operates the country's sixth-largest Islamic window with 28 branches. It will reportedly spin off its Islamic window into a separate subsidiary with 10 billion rupees in paid-up capital, using its existing Islamic banking branches to form the new entity.

Burj Bank Limited was formerly known as Dawood Islamic Bank Limited (DIBL). The bank officially commenced operations in April 2007 and was renamed Burj Bank Ltd. in July 2011. Burj Bank has a diversified range of Shariah compliant funded and non-funded products and services aimed at facilitating both individual and corporate customers. Besides, the bank also offers investment and corporate advisory services. Burj Bank was quoted the best Islamic bank by world financial magazine in 2013. After incurring losses for three consecutive years since CY09, CY12 was the year when the bank made an after tax profit of Rs 84.6 million. In 2012, Burj Bank become a dominant player in fleet financing business and is regarded as a top player in this segment. Industry insiders strongly urge the development of an active Islamic money market via short-term sovereign instruments and secondary market via Islamic repo agreements.

JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company has reaffirmed the entity ratings of Burj Bank at ‘A/A-1’. Outlook on the ratings is ‘Stable’. Ratings take into account the financial profile of Islamic Corporation for Development of the Private sector (ICD), one of the major shareholders of the bank. The recent approval by shareholders to increase the bank's paid up capital (free of losses) to Rs. 6b is likely to create room for growth in core business activities, which is constrained by the high level of Capital Adequacy Ratio required to be maintained by the State Bank of Pakistan. With a CAR of 22.5% at end-Dec’12 and net NPLs in relation to tier-1 capital also within manageable limits, the bank continues to depict sound risk absorption capacity. Burj has set up 25 new branches during FY12 to increase the total outreach to 75 branches by year-end. A further 25 branches are planned to be set up during the ongoing year.

Burj Bank has launched an employee driven CSR initiative called “Giving beyond the Workplace Campaign”. As part of the programme, Burj Bank Employees along with the Senior Management team visited the TCF (The Citizen’s Foundation) Qayyumabad campus. Burj Bank members adopted one class each for the day where they spent their time in storytelling, book reading and educating the students about the importance of Earth Day. Moreover, Mr. Ahmed Khizer Khan, President & CEO of Burj Bank also presented a donation cheque from Burj Bank’s Charity Fund to Asaad Ayub Ahmad, President & CEO of TCF. This marked the beginning of a new relationship between the two organizations.

Burj Bank has launched an employee driven CSR initiative called "Giving beyond the Workplace Campaign". As part of the program, Burj Bank Employees along with the Senior Management team visited the TCF (The Citizen's Foundation) Qayyumabad campus as an Earth Day CSR Activity. Burj Bank members adopted one class each for the day where they spent their time in storytelling, book reading and educating the students about the importance of Earth Day. Ahmed Khizer Khan, President & CEO of Burj Bank also presented a donation cheque from Burj Bank's Charity Fund to Asaad Ayub Ahmad, President & CEO of TCF.

In 2012, Burj Bank’s deposit base grew from Rs.20 billion to Rs.36 billion reflecting a deposit growth of 77pc whereas the total assets grew from Rs.27.6b to Rs.47b reflecting 70pc growth during the year. During the year, the Bank launched and established several products and services such as Carsaaz Auto financing, Home Musharaka, Investment Banking, Islamic Debit MasterCard and an efficient internet banking platform. Morover, the Bank has grown its nationwide branches from 50 to 75.

Bank Burj's results for the first half of 2012 (until June 30th) are out. The bank registeres a profit before tax as high as Rs147 million. The results are a reflection of a turnaround of Burj Bank which caused continuous earning for the first two quarters of the year. The growth of the bank's total deposits lies at 57% reaching Rs 32b for the period. In spite of political and economical problems, the bank demonstrated excellent half yearly performance.

Read more on: http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/bu...

Dawood Islamic Bank has a new name since 11 July 2011: Burj Bank. With the new image, the bank is trying to leave behind all the turbulents.
The banks new purpose is to be among the top 10 banks in Pakistan within a decade. The bank is planning to launch Shari’ah-compliant consumer products.

Dawood Islamic Bank has anticipated the new identity of Burj Bank to “Burj Bank Limited” with effect from July 11, 2011.
It seems that the reasons for the change of identity of Dawood Islamic Bank is the change of the profile of the investors due to fresh investment from Middle East constituting almost 85 percent ownership going to Middle East Investor.