TheTechnologicalLeapWe»ve switched to an upgraded versionof our Core Banking System.

Cover Story

Disruption AheadDiscover more about MCB Lite ƒa socially connected payments solution.

Product Feature

Website 2014We»ve revamped and

relaunched our website.

Digital Feature+Interviews & ProfilesOff-site & AdventuresCreativity & Fun

T H E O F F I C I A L N E W S M A G A Z I N E

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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 LiteBy Digital Banking-RBG (North) Corporate WebsiteUsman Akram Retail Banking GroupMehboob Elahi Treasury & FX GroupUsman Khan Audit & RAR GroupMohammadFarooq Wasi Compliance & Controls GroupM.Danish Iqbal Risk Management GroupMusharraf Iftikhar Financial Control GroupKhurram Saeed Govt. Hajj Scheme 2014Amna Ahmed Operations GroupImran Rashid Special AssetsManagement GroupKhalid Ishaaq Wholesale Banking GroupAdrish Ali CSR & Security GroupAkbar Ali Islamic Banking GroupHaroon SiddiquiMubeen Akhtar Information Technology GroupMohsin DarUsman ShehzadSalman Ferozi Human ResourceManagement GroupTehmina Shafi Khan Creativity@MCBAdnan Ali KhanMuhammad ShafiqSyed Ali Zullquarnain NaqviAsma AqeelMazhar IqbalKhalil-Ur-Rehman

Contents

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434549

Cover StoriesMCB LiteCorporate WebsiteProject Ambit

Govt. Hajj Scheme 2014

Group HighlightsTreasury & FX GroupWholesale Banking GroupCompliance & Controls GroupRisk Management GroupSpecial Assets Management GroupAudit & RAR GroupFinancial Control GroupInformation Technology GroupIslamic Banking GroupCSR & Security GroupOperations GroupHuman Resource Management GroupRetail Banking 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 reproducedwithout the prior written permission of the publisher.

Sara AfzalEditor

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DisruptionAhead

Cover Story

by Digital BankingRBG (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 newmobile connection will still involve evoking parts of the physical value chain to execute. Think of the SIMcard and in some cases the handsetthat would need to be purchased, as opposed to the wallet that residesin the cloud and is down loadedover the wireless internet in shapeof 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 DNAand 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 chargesto 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 athome 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 insome 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 designingretail 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 DNAand not as marketing after thought.These services will come without any preconditions and will be platform independent meaning bank, telecom and devise agnostic. These walletswill 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 everyshort vacation taken these days andthat too mostly ‘selfies’ to be sharedon social networking sites, it is almost futile to attempt to predict just howmany payments a day people willbe 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 arebeing distributed digitally in real time and are device and platform agnostic but most of all they are free or have a price point closeto 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 RevampedCorporate WebsiteLaunched!

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 ateam 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 beinghandled 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 theiridea to stakeholders and bring everybody on board at every phaseof the Project before moving onto the next.The Working Group & STECO members remained activelyinvolved in contributing all thepossible ideas that could have been applied to a bank’s website. The management remained prudentlyactive 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 tosell 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 aclick 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 AmbitCore 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

56

As a result of such vibrant marketing,a lot of excitement was built amongst internal as well as external customersand numerous queries were directedto the Hajj Cell, branches and theCall Centre right before the announcement of Government Hajj Scheme. On the launch date, therewas an over-whelming response fromthe customers and a steep rise in application numbers was observed onan hourly basis; kudos to all the teams involved in sharing the updates ona 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 previousrecords & leading the competitiononce 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 onlyfor the competition but for itself too.

MCB has done it again! Like lastyear, 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 campaignwas 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-endwith a whopping number of 36,289Hajj applications breaking allprevious records.

GovernmentHajj 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 formallylaunched 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 switchingto 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 healthof any manufacturing sector. It is considered tobe 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 42and 50 indicates that economic growth is anemic and flat.

We are very excited tohave formally launched Pakistan’s first everPurchasing 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

WholesaleBanking Groupby 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 inBusiness 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 workand challenges. MCB is lucky to have him on board!

Hassan Ali, AVPRelationship 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 AlahakoonRegional Manager,MCB Sri Lanka

Sumedha has been associated with thebank 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 RiyalUnit Head – Islamic Banking(Colombo Region), MCB Sri Lanka

Rifad joined the bank in 2006. He hasbeen 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 hasbeen 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 3G10MHz 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 ofRBG 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 increasedpotential 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

Compliance & Controls GroupGroup 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.

RiskManagement

The operationalrisk awareness were facilitated at Staff College Lahore, Multan, Karachiand 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 support services for the Business Groups.

• 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

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MRMD is a risk management function that works in close partnership with the business segments to identifyand monitor the market and the counterparty risks throughoutthe 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 scorecardsand 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 hasbeen actively involved in developmentof 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/changesin credit processing and credit authority related matters that aroseas a result of organizational changes which ensured smooth transition.

Further, Credit Portfolio functionshall now operate under the umbrellaof 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 2014to 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 sharethat during 2013, SAMG surpassedall 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 analystsin 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 ina 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 AssetsManagement Group

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Audit & RAR Group2014 & Beyond

Unleashing Creativity:

We begin with the initiative thatserved 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 emailaccount 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 eitherfrom 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 glimpseof 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

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Financial Control Group 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 Limiteddecided 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 availabilityof 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 issuesrelated to Schedule of Bank Charges on bi-annual basisand issuance of profit rates (both declared & provisional)for local & foreign currencies.

Budgeting & Planning Unit:

Budgeting in present age is an important tool to forecastthe 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 performanceon 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 Functionsalso 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 finalizationof 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 issuesrelated to Schedule of Bank Charges on bi-annual basisand issuance of profit rates (both declared & provisional)for local & foreign currencies.

Budgeting & Planning Unit:

Budgeting in present age is an important tool to forecastthe 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 performanceon 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 Functionsalso 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 finalizationof 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.

Financial Control Group

by Khurram Saeed

“It’s all about discipline.” – The FCG’s Motto.

25 | LIFE @ MCB

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by Salman Ferozi, Mohsin Dar, Usman Shehzad

Catch up on the IT Group’s fast developments

InformationTechnology 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 goalsof 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 tothe decision of acquiring the latest and upgraded point-to-multipoint video conferencing solution, inclusiveof 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 tothe decision of acquiring the latest and upgraded point-to-multipoint video conferencing solution, inclusiveof 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) FY 2014 by aligning ITG’s roadmap with Business’s deliverables.

• IP Phone Locking Phase-II (Implementation of security controls over IP Phones).

• Conversion of legacy application platform (Conversion of Switch Claim DB from Access to MS SQL Server).

• 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 SMS Alerts facility on CBS Transactions.

• Automation: Electronic Account Opening Form (Roll out to branches).• IP Phone Installation at 400 A-Grade Branches.• Revamp of Internet/Email Gateway Solution.• Bancassurance Application System.• IBAN Phase 2 (IBAN implementation in SSO).• TAT Application: 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 IT Assets.• Review, Approval and Implementation of ‘Information

Technology Policy’.• Review, Approval and Implementation of ‘Information Systems Disaster Recovery Plan 2014’

• Finalization of Short Term IT Strategy (STS) FY 2014 by aligning ITG’s roadmap with Business’s deliverables.

• IP Phone Locking Phase-II (Implementation of security controls over IP Phones).

• Conversion of legacy application platform (Conversion of Switch Claim DB from Access to MS SQL Server).

• 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 SMS Alerts facility on CBS Transactions.

• Automation: Electronic Account Opening Form (Roll out to branches).• IP Phone Installation at 400 A-Grade Branches.• Revamp of Internet/Email Gateway Solution.• Bancassurance Application System.• IBAN Phase 2 (IBAN implementation in SSO).• TAT Application: 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 IT Assets.• Review, Approval and Implementation of ‘Information

Technology Policy’.• Review, Approval and Implementation of ‘Information 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 SBP Audit 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.

Islamic Banking Groupby Mubeen Akhtar and Haroon Siddiqui

Shariah Compliant Banking Exellence.

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29 | LIFE @ MCB

The ‘Removal of Night Guards’ isone 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 doingits 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 supportof 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 wasbare 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 helpin making our efforts fruitful in performing our duties under these testing times.

CSR& Security Group

by Akbar Ali

Learn more about the unsungheroes – 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 architecturefor 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 ProcessManagement DivisionBPMD 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

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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 DivisionCentralized 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 supportto 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 OperationsConsumer 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 DivisionBank’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 businessand 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 DivisionThe 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.

Through optimal usage of technology and moving towards paperless environment, the Signature Management Unit launched an “Electronic Book of Inter-branch Signatories/ Authorized Signatories’ enabling the Bank to discontinue paper book thus improving the TAT for a signature update and savingprinting costs.

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 toall 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 renovationof 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 ResourceManagement 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 theDA policy and centralized the processat HR, significantly reducing TATs, cutting costs by millions and more importantly, enabling the bank to dispense speedy justice.

Nadia Aslam and her HR-OPS teamalso worked brilliantly with HR-FSDto streamline Operations and handleVSS 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 and Audit 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 2014Retail Banking Group

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 by Active8 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 Service Appreciation Award 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 TEAMThe India ShowFPCCI in collaboration with The Indian Ministry of Trade & Finance, TDAP & FICCIorganized “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 Communityand 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 LahoreThis 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 ofthe 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 referralsfor business purposes.

NORTH TEAMMr. 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 MemberMirza Noshad BaigMCB Hero

PAF Golf Club ISB- Spring SeasonMatch 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 2014Left 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).

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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 StaffMr. 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

All in a day of

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Cover Story

LoyaltyDiscountsBy Sohail Malik

How is loyalty defined? At MCB Bank, we are faithful towards our customers no matter what the cost is and this is what loyalty actually means to us. By providing state of the art products and services, we ensure a long lasting and mutually beneficial relationship with our clientele. We have been conducting in depth research and have developed various financial models to ensure exponential growth in our bank’s deposit base.

MCB Bank is a leader in Business Development that is currently focusing on ADC enhancement as part of its Customer Loyalty Program. Value Added Services (VAS) and Service Quality are two most critical models that are being followed by many banks today; including MCB Bank. There is a significant upside to these models in terms of customer retention, they drastically reduce the number of inactive accounts and steadily increase the sufficiency of account balance.

Loyalty Program offerings from most of the Banks in Pakistan include:

• Discounts at specific locations• Rewards/points collection• Complimentary upgrades at certain airports/hotels

At the forefront of ADC development, our teams have worked hard to deliver and maintain a high standard of Rewards and VAS as part of this program.

Our Alliances and Loyalty Department was established in year 2013 and through our continuous achievements, in just a year, we have become a model for other banks to follow. By December 2013, we had achieved 100 discount partners in our portfolio and today we stand as Pakistan’s leading Alliances and Loyalty partner nationwide. By offering immense savings in almost every area of customer expenditure we have helped our clients save almost 25% of their outlay on discounted brands. These savings have helped boost MCB’s card issuance and retention.

MCB Bank’s Loyalty Program is starkly different from those of other banks .Some of our key features are mentioned below:

• Discounts at thousands of locations and hundreds of brands pan-Pakistan• Discounts on all MCB Plastics • State of the art Smartphone Discounts Application (android/iOS)• Highest discount ratio in Pakistan (up to 60%)

We are faithful towards our customers no matter what the cost is and this is what loyalty actually means to us.

MCB Loyalty Discounts

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Discount Partners Locations Business Type Discount Details Available On

Nationwide15% Discount on entire range(min purchase of PKR. 10,000)

Clothing All Cards

KarachiLahore

Islamabad

Hotel &Restaurant

12% Discount on entire menu(Minimum Bill Rs.1000) All Cards

35% Discount on room rent

20% Discount on Laundary

15% Discount on Food / Bev

All Cards

20% Discount on entire menu All Cards

Fast foodRestaurant

All Cards

Apparel

Discount of 15% for all Platinum/Gold Card holders & employee

All Cards

KarachiHyderabad

Restaurant 15% Discount on Food / Beverages All Cards

Health Care 20% Discount on All Services All Cards

Nationwide Clothing Store 10% Discount for allMCB Card Holders

All Cards

All Cards

KarachiLahore

Islamabad

Hotel &Restaurant

KarachiLahore

Islamabad

Hotel &Restaurant

Nationwide

- Free Up size offer on purchaseof medium Meal

- Free one Sundae onpurchase of 2 large Meals

Discount of 10% for all othercard holder

Nationwide

Nationwide

Nationwide Clothing Store 10% Discount for allMCB Card Holders

43 | LIFE @ MCB

Stay focused and one day you will achieve your goals InshAllah.

In The Spotlight

Q. So, how long have you been with MCB? Since 2013.

Q. What were you doing before joining MCB Bank? I was in the Banking Industry.

Q. What inspires you Aali? Positive results.

Q. How would you describe yourself in three words? I’m straight forward, simple & organized.

Q. What are your hobbies? I like playing tennis.

Q. Who or what inspired you to work in your field i.e banking? My mother has motivated me to join the banking sector.

Q. Do you enjoy reading? If so, what was the name of the last book that you have read?

I enjoy reading a lot. ‘Jungle Lore’ by Jim Corbett.

Q. What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment so far? My contribution towards the progress of Pakistan through remittances.

Q. Please tell us about the Home Remittance products being offered by MCB Bank. MCB Bank Limited Home Remittance products are branded under the

umbrella of ‘Burqraftaar’. These products enable overseas Pakistanis to transfer funds to Pakistan swiftly from anywhere in the world. ‘Burqraftaar Cash’ (Cash In Hand) enables cash over counter payments at any MCB Bank branch. ‘Burqraftaar Transfer’ (Straight to Account!) product for bank account transfers to MCB Bank account holders. Motherland Accounts for Non-Resident Pakistanis also allows overseas Pakistanis to open an account with MCB whilst they are abroad. We are in process of introducing ‘Burqraftaar Account’ to convert Cash Customers into MCB Account holders.

Q. How can customers avail these products? Customers residing in different countries can visit any of our international

exchange companies & worldwide bank branches to remit funds for payment to their beneficiaries from any MCB Branch.

Q. What has been the role of MCB Bank in increasing the level of Remittances to Pakistan?

MCB has been at the forefront of Home Remittances since the inception of PRI in 2007. We are proud to be benefiting over three million families annually with the joys of Remittances.

Q. What message would you give to your readers? Stay focused and one day you will achieve your goals InshAllah.

by Our Staff Member

Be inspired by what drivesour Business Head.

Interview withMr. Aali ShafiBusiness Head - Transaction Banking Division

.

Being based in Lahore gives one the opportunity to strike out in any direction in search of adventure. I have been travelling to the northern areas of Pakistan to enjoy the scenic mountains that divide Pakistan from China, been to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to enjoy the places that have been my favorite tourist spots. Have traveled to the south, into the desert to view the majestic ruins of Fort Derawar and the remains of Cholistan settlements that once guarded along with a string of smaller fortifications and even as far a field as Gwadar to the very end of Pakistan having driven from Lahore via Karachi then along the coastal highway. I have done all of that while pursuing a full range of interests, from camping, biking, hiking, hunting and participating in Pakistan’s exhilarating 4x4 rallies. It is difficult to say that what

out of these has brought more satisfaction to me. Each experience has been something above what many would experience, or only do so fleetingly. I have been lucky to have done such things regularly, seen the fantastic range of sights this country has to offer, and met the full spectrum of characters, from travelers to local drummers that materialize and then vanish in the blink of an eye. If adrenaline levels are any measure, perhaps my rally experiences have been a cut above the others.

Keeping Sufian’s adventure sprees in mind, Team CCM has arranged a short interview of him for our readers. Have a read and see what living on the edge actually means:

CCM: What inspires you Sufian?SUF: Anything which is unique and discrete inspires me,

be that a person or an object.

CCM: Tell us what life means to you?SUF: Life to me is a bag full of toys, some you like and some you

don’t prefer to play with. But as a whole it is just another activity which sometimes is good and at times worse.

CCM: Describe yourself in three words?SUF: Helpful, compatible and caring.

CCM: What motivates you to be so adventurous towards life?SUF: Adventure to me is like oxygen, I can’t live without it.

Adventure lives in me in different forms, sometimes I am a mountaineer, at times I am a lone rider in desert and sometimes i am just a vicious hunter.

CCM: Please share some memories from your childhood?SUF: My first stunt at the age of 4 years, fixing a coin at the

tip of my tongue and riding a tricycle, the coin eventually ended up in my stomach.

CCM: If you had only six months left to live, what would you do with the time?

SUF: To be honest, I will not panic, in fact I will say good bye to everyone and will go for my ultimate adventure. May be I will offer myself as someone whom NASA will send to Mars.

CCM: Who were your heroes when you were young?SUF: Clint Eastwood, as I watched his famous movie “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” when I was only 6.

Still like him a lot and have his every movie in my collection.

CCM: What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?

SUF: By far I have visited almost every place in Pakistan, from Gwadar to Khunjrab and from Kashmir to Quetta. I think I’m familiar and seeing every corner of my homeland is the greatest accomplishment for me.

CCM: Any message for the people who wish to pursue a life like yours?

SUF: If you want to be contented, then be like me.

by Team CCMLiving life in the fast lane

Suf-GIn The Spotlight

Each experience has been something above what many would experience, or only do so fleetingly.

Independence Day 2014

49 | LIFE @ MCB

Celebrating Our Independence

The Marching Band in formation.L-R Shahid Malik GH CCM & Special Projects. Kamran Zaffar Muggo,Audit & RAR,Fida Ali Mirza, Company Secretary,Saqib Rasheed, Dept Head - Talent Acquisition HRMG

President Imran Maqbool receiving flowers from children. MCB family celebrating Independence Day 2014.

Cake- cutting celebrations. MCB and its future generation. Kids enjoying at the ceremony. MCB team members.

Capacity Building of Charitable Institutes:MCB Bank realizes its social responsibility and ensures that no discrimination prevails – be it owing to race, religion, color or any sort of background whatsoever.

The Banks initiatives have been aimed at supporting the underprivileged. In order to fulfill this mission, once more, with the support of information and communication technology – we partnered up with various NGOs such as, ‘Our Lady of Fatima Church’, ‘Pakistan Foundation Fighting Blindness’, ‘The Lahore Businessmen Association for Rehabilitation of the Disabled (LABARD)’ and ‘Rehman Kayani Memorial Society’. These communities helped us focus attention on social and capacity building issues that need to be worked on. Moreover, The Bank also supported ‘Al-Khidmat Orphan Care Program’ by providing them

financial assistance so that they can also excel and move on in the mainstream life cycle. The Bank has been supporting “Breast Cancer Awareness” across the country with the “Pink Ribbon Campaign”.

The Bank in collaboration with ‘Sundas Foundation and Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital’ had organized a blood donating camp at MCB House Lahore, MCB Center, Neela Gumbad Branch and MCB Tower Karachi. The turnarounds at these camps were tremendous and these philanthropies managed to collect quite many blood bottles for the treatment of their patients.

Keeping in mind, the needs of our minority groups, we sponsored various activities for minorities during the year e.g. Fund Raising events for St. Anthony’s Church Lahore and St. Patrick’s Cathedral Karachi.

Other than giving, direct financial support, MCB Bank has helped various charities through alternative and innovative mediums e.g. fund-raising via electronic banking, distribution of flyers with bills & statements and free media space to charities so that they can conveniently advocate for their cause over mass mediums. Edhi, The Citizens Foundation, LABARD, Al-Shifa, and SOS are a few such names that we have been collaborating with in this regard.

Being one of the market leaders in banking sector, MCB understands its pivotal role in the national economy and it continues to operate with strict adherence to regulations and principles of good governance. As a responsible corporate entity we consider corporate citizenship to be an integral part of our business and consider it to be an equally lucrative business strategy, whereby serving the community adds value to our target market.

We at MCB Bank consider community service as part of our business philosophy. Therefore, we have taken numerous initiatives in the areas of education, health, environment, sports, social awareness, promotion of national culture and welfare of charitable organizations.

MCB Bank is always active in carrying out community services under its different programs aimed at nurturing the various facets of life and to foster the growth of communities in which it operates. Keeping its corporate social responsibility (CSR) at the core, MCB strives to play its role in contributing towards the betterment of society.

Some of its major CSR initiatives include:

We pay special attention to human rights and ensure thatits policies reflect the interest of all of its members and customers without any discrimination.

The Bank places a strong emphasis on education and extends maximum financial support to individuals and schools for the promotion of this noble cause.

Corporate SocialResponsibilityby The Team CCM

Changing the world step by step.

51 | LIFE @ MCB

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Education for AllThe Bank places a strong emphasis on education and extends maximum financial support to individuals and schools for the

promotion of this noble cause. MCB has worked together with CARE Foundation to support its extensive network of schools. The main aim is to develop personality and character of Pakistan’s future generations by perpetrating qualities of inner discipline and control. In this regard, the bank has signed an agreement with LUMS for the purpose of providing soft loans to undergraduate students. We also conducted a virtual class room project with CISCO to promote a good standard of education for the less privileged children. MCB CSR has allocated funds especially for the activities brought in by various educational institutes. Some of these activities include sponsorship for Forman Christian College Model United Nations, the Karachi Boat Club, 5th Inter School Debate Competition and The CFO conference 2013 by PAC held on its Silver Jubilee (Alumni Dinner). On the same lines of helping the children of society, we provided financial assistance to Roots International School Education Next: Future School. It has also sponsored the COMSATS’ Pak-China Business Forum 2013 event along with COMSATS’s Global Forum on Islamic Finance and took part in the cultural engagement event organized by Civil Services Academy- Sindh.

MCB CSR takes part in the substantive development of a large proportion of rural and urban population.

Human Rights MCB pays special attention to human rights and ensures that its policies reflect the interest of all of its members and customers without any discrimination, especially those who require special attention.

Environment at all branches of MCB are maintained with utmost professionalism, instilling a feeling of mutual respect. Aiding in upholding the basic rights of the people, MCB also sponsored the Annual Awards 2011 dinner for the Human Rights Society of Pakistan.

Sports DevelopmentMCB CSR has always been at the forefront for promoting various sports at all levels. In such an endeavor, the bank facilitated the Ibex Golf Club – Sargodha, Pakistan Club and the Interact Club of Karachi Continental. Further, it has also assisted the All Pakistan Multan Open Golf Championship – 2013, Jashan-e-Baharan Festival by Pakistan Expatriates Coop Housing along with the Ramzan Sports Gala-2013 held by CDA. MCB bank provides a quintessential environment that helps in enhancing the overall productivity with responsibility of its stakeholders.

Further, the Bank has been able to sponsor Punjab Youth Festival 2013-2014 and has also donated for one time development and maintenance cost for a sports playfield at a local playground in Lahore which has tremendously helped in providing healthy activities to the local communities.

Agribusiness, Finance and Power SectorMCB Bank realizes the pivotal role agriculture plays in driving the growth of our economy. Pakistan is an agrarian society and majority of its population is dependent on the agriculture sector for their livelihood. Keeping this fact in mind, MCB deliberately took part in the 5th Farmers Festival (HARI MELO) & National Conference in order to further enhance the agriculture sector of the country.

The bank has partnered with State Bank of Pakistan by partially sponsoring the Farmers Financial Literacy and

Awareness Program Phase – II (FFLP). It is an Agricultural Awareness Program that is held at District Level in order to educate the agrarians at grass root level.

IESCO – National Conference on Power Sector Reforms,Clean Note Policy Campaign by SBP and sponsoring the Media Advocacy Centre (MAC) have also been pivotal towards MCB’s “Society Friendly Corporate Social Responsibility” initiatives.

Energy conservationMCB Bank carries a very conscious approach towards the current energy crisis. Keeping this concern in mind; the Bank financed few ‘Bagasse Based Generation Power Projects’. These Projects are being setup under the Framework for Power Co-generation 2013 for Bagasse / Bio Mass to include bagasse/ biomass under the ambit of the ‘Renewable Energy Policy, 2006’. This Alternative Energy Development Policy incentivizes the sugar companies to expand and upgrade their power generation businesses.

The Bank also believes that energy conservation is a dire need of time. It should be rooted in the behavior of every human being to get more effect towards the plan of energy conservation. The Bank has constructed a new building near Lahore Airport that truly reflects the concept of “Going Green”. Also, MCB Karachi Tower is considered as an “Efficient Building” wherein the ‘Air-Conditioning’ is solely run through “waste-heat”.

The Bank is currently involved in a project that aims to generate energy with the help of windmills. It also supports the idea of solar energy panels and plans to transform its branches to alternate energy generation portfolios. In 2014, the bank has improved the energy efficiency of its offices and branches wherein electricity expenses have been decreased by 7.73%.

Environmental protection measuresMCB Bank recognizes the importance of safe environment that is closely linked to the welfare of our community at large. The bank has taken initiatives to promote a paperless environment in order to control operating expenses resulting from photocopy and printed papers.

MCB offices are very particular about plantation; special staff is hired that looks after the greenery and plantation within and in the surroundings of our buildings. In 2014, the bank has spent an overall 13.4 million on plantation expenses which is an evidence of its profound interest towards healthy environment measures.

National Cause DonationsSupporting national cause for the betterment of community at large is the utmost philosophy that MCB Bank is proud of. The bank very generously takes part in charitable activities. In 2013, rupees five million (Rs. 5 million) were donated for the affected Christian Community owing to the riots in

Joseph Colony, Badami Bagh, Lahore. Also, rupees thirty million (Rs. 30 million) were donated to the Prime Minister’s Earth Quake Relief Fund for Baluchistan 2014.

Further, the Bank donated PKR 40 Million for the IDPs North Waziristan – 2014. MCB Bank’s contribution towards the community has been recognized by various local and

international organizations. We received “CSR Business Excellence Award” and have recently been ranked 8th because of the volume of donation among 490 top Pakistani companies which is definitely a source of motivation for us to continue towards such gallant initiatives.

Overall, MCB represents a specific honor-bound commitment to serve community with integrity, understanding and social responsibility that is second to none. MCB bank’s contribution towards the community has also been recognized by various local and international organizations. The bank has received “CSR Business Excellence Award” in March 2012 and has recently been

ranked 8th because of its volume of Donation among 490 top Pakistani Companies. It has also received a 'Certificate of Recognition' from Pakistan Center for Philanthropy which is definitely a source of motivation for it to continue support towards such gallant initiatives.

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53 | LIFE @ MCB

Image Courtesy: Mazhar Iqbal

MCB Talent

Creativity @ MCBAwards & Honors

Asiamoney Awards 2014Best of the Best Domestic Bank

CFA 11th Excellence Awards 2013• Best Bank of The Year - Large Bank• Most Stable Bank of The Year

ICAP & ICMAP 2013Best Corporate Report Award - Financial Sector Category

R E L I A B L E S T A B L E A C C E S S I B L E S E C U R E

We know who to thank.You know where to bank.

What is this intangible phenomenon that’s beyond the limited perception of human understanding?

An oyster transforms an irritant into a pearl. No lesson from nature canbe more educating than this.

MCB Talent

by Khalil-Ur-Rehman

Life’s beauty is in its simplicity.Rich in Simple Treasures

Ever wondered about the life that passes by us or the world we are born in, bred in and ultimately planted in? It sure would be a waste of the life and the world alike if we do not let ourselves open up and be receptive to its more subtle gifts. Gifts, which are priceless and stunning, but as they say ‘beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’, so there won’t be many who have this rare and delicate sense to notice and understand such small yet exceptional treasures.

A leaf falls to the ground, once a seemingly inseparable extension of the tree; soft, shiny and spongy, it breaks the bond and takes a plunge to the ground as a yellow dull and crispy lifeless form. Does it ring any bell? Doesn’t it sound familiar? Yes, we and this leaf are no different. We share the same fate, but never for an instant forget that the life we have is as brilliant as this leaf once had. So, do yourself a favor and try not to turn yellow, dull or crispy while hangingon to life.

No two snowflakes are alike, it’s a natural and proven fact. Yet they all seem quite similar to us, don’t they? That’s because while relishing their beauty with our eyes, we seldom try to

compare one with another. That’s the key, the key to being likable for all, if you don’t compare others, they would find you interesting, if you don’t judge them for their follies and almost certainly they would be inclined towards associating with you.

A pleasantly surprising breeze brushes past us in hot and humid night, leaving us wondering where in God’s forsaken time and land it came from. In times like these, we can’t help wondering if this breeze was indeed a refreshing gust of air or some old and pleasant memories enveloped us for an instant. Whether it’s a breeze that came out of turn or a refreshing memory from good old past, we must understand that the realization of both belong to the chest of our treasures and are for keepsake, not to be parted with, till we breathe.

Have you ever witnessed the life from the window of a smile that breaks on a child’s face when he looks at you? Could the life ever be more beautiful than that? Aren’t his giggles more soothing than the jingling of all the wind chimes of the world put together? Now put your own child in perspective and you’ll federate with me in my thoughts.

A heart beats in the chest cavity of a body. Take it out and its dead. Plant it back in and it’s alive again and starts breathing. Makes one wonder doesn’t it? But one inference that can be made from this is for certain, it’s not the heart itself that gives life to an otherwise lifeless body. It’s something else, something that can’t be seen and neither can it be touched. So what is this intangible phenomenon that’s beyond the limited perception of human understanding? It sure isn’t heart or brain for that matter, it’s got to be something else, something divine and when divinity comes into play, it creates its own course, its own principles and its own doctrine to let itself rule over life or death, making us believe in and develop faith in an unearthly force, which most of us in our limited understanding know as God.

A penguin cradles a single egg over its feet and shields it from the freezing snow beneath. This instinct was inborn with what purpose? Out of love for its unborn chick or for continuance of its species? Whatever it is, the sight never fails to attract our attention and we can’t help admiring this marvel of nature. A simple, plain, white sphere of calcium and protein which is hanging

onto the thread of life is so precious to its parent that he is willing to freeze its feet off and risks its own life in return for the future of an unborn. We, humans, in contrast, are a peculiar species and a very selfish one at that and myself being candid here was a necessity. A living, breathing life to us doesn’t matter even half of what that unborn chick matters to a penguin living in the freezing cold of the southern hemisphere, somewhere in Antarctica. So, what does that make him and more so, what does that make us? Think and maybe you’ll start valuing other’s lives a little more. I’m not asking to cradle others on your feet. All I am asking is not to throw freezing snow on others.

An oyster transforms an irritant intoa pearl. No lesson from nature can be more educating than this. A tiny grain of sand enters an oyster shell and is turned into a pearl by the oyster’s own saliva. Knowing that it can’t get rid of it, the animal living inside the shell, with its soft, sensitive and slippery skin knows that the only escape is to come to terms with this alien body. Slowly and painstakingly, this annoying grain is substituted by a smooth, shiny and even surfaced pearl, when no longer a threat, this pearl is then accepted in the very shell that was once the habitat of the animal living within it. What does it tell us? Just that human beings are not hostile, it is how we visualize them, how we treat them and how we ease them into our lives and work routineto make it a win-win situation for everybody which is favorable for all and detrimental and alien to nobody.

This was only a very small frame through which you could have a peek into your

life which is so very ‘rich in simple treasures’. Get hold of them and keep them close to your heart, you never know, these treasures might brighten up the sky in the later years of your life and make it worth your while, when life would not be as vivid as it is now. .

MCB Talent

59 | LIFE @ MCB

by Adnan Ali Khan

Life @ MCBI am MCBYou are MCBRead carefullyLife @ MCB Today is MCBTomorrow is MCBLive hopefullyLife @ MCB The morning is MCBThe evening is MCBThe joyful activity isLife @ MCB The preferment is MCBThe expectation is MCBNo annoyance given to anyLife @ MCB Respect given to the seniorsImpart given to the youthCo-operate with your colleaguesLife @ MCBKnowledge is MCBExperience is MCBCompete with thyLife @ MCB The journey is MCBOur destiny is at MCBReact CarefullyLife @ MCB

Smile Sets The Deal

by Syed Ali Zullquarnain Naqvi

In the Mist of SorrowsIn the Hours to GrieveI found I Heal…..A Smile Sets the Deal…..

A tear in RainA fear of PainWill have no GainAll go in VainI found I Heal…..A Smile Sets the Deal…..

Where Hearts Get BurntAnd Kin Get FirmNo Way, No ClueOne Way to get throughI found I Heal…..A Smile Sets the Deal…..

No way turns GreyAll hopes becomes PreyA barren dream to live toWill turn green to give toI found I Heal…..A Smile Sets the Deal…..

Let’s get chilled upGive smiles grilled upSay bye to word PastSay Hi to the world FastI found I Heal…..A Smile Sets the Deal…..

MCB Talent

Lack of activity combined with the lack of sleep, leads to a direct cause of weight gain.

As a banker, you will sit at least nine hours a day to complete you daily tasks. The only activity that you will get to perform would be preparing large excel sheets, running after a photocopier and fetching 200 calories of coffee or a cup of tea full of sugar from your tea boy. Lack of activity combined with the lack of sleep, leads to a direct cause of weight gain and the fact that your calorie serving cafeteria compels you to eat as much food as you want for lunch, weight gain is inevitable.

Find Time for ExerciseMany Banks offer in-house gym facility. However, if not than they will most likely offer discounts for gym memberships, do use them. As a banker, you may not have the time to go to the gym; you are too sleepy in the morning, too busy during the day and have no energy left at night. The best time to go to the gym is before lunch or dinner. Inform your colleagues of your preferred gym schedule, so that way they will know when to reach you. Since, it is normally the time when people are usually out of office, it makes it easier for you to sneak out for some exercise.

Use Sports for NetworkingBankers like golf, it makes them feel cool. Ask your team members if they play this game or would like to start taking part in this activity. Often, MDs, VPs and upper management normally like to play golf. This may be a perfect opportunityto socialize and get to know your colleagues better, which will become handy at appraisal time. Just try not to hurt them when putting or when yelling “fore”!

Avoid Unhealthy Food HabitsIt’s important to always eat breakfast and don't stuff yourself at dinner time. Buy some fruits, nuts, yogurt and other healthy snacks to eat throughout the day. This will help you avoid burning out during the day and will make you less dependent on caffeine to stay alert.

Use StairsAvoid using elevators and try using the stairs instead. It keeps one healthy and is an effective way of getting rid of at least some part of one’s baby fat.

by Asma Aqeel

Here are a few tips for staying healthy and fit at work.

Formula for StayingHealthy in Banking

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