JS Bank, Pakistan’s fastest growing financial institution has won the ‘Best Bank for Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs)’ award in the 2019 Asiamoney Best Banks Awards for Pakistan.

JS Bank’s focus on SME lending began in 2014-2015 and in a period of less than four years, the Bank has become ranked as the third largest SME bank in Pakistan, with a portfolio of around USD348 million. With a growth rate of 155% last year, the Bank successfully partnered with leading institutions including USAID, DFID-funded Karandaaz, ride-hailing giant Careem, Nestle Pakistan, Engro Foods Limited (Friesland Campina) amongst others for on-ground impact. These efforts have resulted in employment opportunities for over 16,000 direct borrowers and over 100,000 people as a whole. The Bank also created a host of specialized solutions for women entrepreneurs in rural outreach programs, enabling empowerment as well as financial stability.

“This is an achievement not just for JS Bank but for the entire Pakistani financial industry as it reflects the high-performance standards against which we benchmark ourselves”, said Basir Shamsie, President and CEO, JS Bank. “We are thankful to Asiamoney for recognizing our hard work and will continually strive for greater human impact and business growth with the progression of time.

Committed towards its role as a catalyst towards the progress and prosperity of Pakistan, the Bank hopes to continue this journey of impact by providing a variety of innovative conventional and digital solutions in the years ahead.