Volume 1 Issue 1 ASEELA Insight - Home | Mobilink ... Branch Network Expansion 2013 Best Sellers Childhood Memoirs Picture Gallery In this Issue. . . 1st Anniversary Overview 13 Branches,

Message from the CEO CEO’s Message

1st Anniversary Overview

Vision, Mission and Core Values

Editor’s Note

Operations Department

Branchless Banking : An Overview

Risk Management

Workplace Mannerism

Medal of Honor 2012

Interview with the CEO

IT Success Story

Waseela Branch Network Expansion 2013

Best Sellers

Childhood Memoirs

Picture Gallery

In this Issue. . .

1st

Anniversary Overview

13 Branches, 6 Service Centers

Total Receivables Rs. 52 Million

Total Deposit Rs. 178 Million

1460 Active Clients

36,656 M-Wallets

Number of Utility Bills Payments

2,431,378

Number of P-2-P Fund Transfers

213,281

July, 2013

Volume 1 Issue 1

Dear Colleagues,

It’s a great pleasure and privilege to see the development of Waseela Bank at such a rapid pace

and with such high standards of quality. As you all know State Bank of Pakistan gave us permis-

sion in April to start operations and we did so by opening Islamabad Branch on May, 2nd 2012.

The hard work and dedication of everyone enabled us to set out on this journey with Mobilink

whose leadership position in the market helped give a distinct positioning.

Let me take this opportunity to remind you of the pillars that uphold the structure of the banking

business. All bankers, micro or macro, are custodians of public money and must have a strong

sense of responsibility in the money entrusted to them by the general public and shareholders.

Never forget that trust and integrity are of the utmost importance in this business. Always keep in

mind customer focus and build upon customer service as they are central to our business.

After just more than a year we have processed, cross checked and opened approx. 23,000 agent

accounts which is a big achievement. We are fully committed to providing the best possible regu-

latory and operational support to our sister concern Mobilink Financial Services for making

Branchless Banking business such a huge success. Several of our services are coming along

quite well and many others are in the pipeline. All of our departments put in considerable amount

of effort in making the vision of Waseela Bank a success.

We look forward to a bright and prosperous future where we will try to establish ourselves as a

leading microfinance institute with the highest standards of excellence and healthy returns on

equity.

Our Vision

‘To become a market leader in branchless banking, mobile

banking and micro financial services; offering simple, innovative

and value added products and services to the general public.’

Our Mission

‘To help in improving access to finance, provide exceptional

value to our clients and expand economic opportunities for peo-

ple of Pakistan. We will also provide exciting and challenging

career opportunities to our employees and create and enhance

value for our shareholders.’

Core Values

Innovation

Equal Opportunity

Equitable Growth

Integrity

Ethics

Editor’s Note

Dear Colleagues,

Finally, summarized display of Waseela’s performance, its ideology & its teamwork; is in front of you. It indeed reminds me of the

day when Waseela was inaugurated. We were very excited & aspiring to be a potent Microfinance entity in the country contrib-

uting meaningfully in the lives of our customers. This has been possible only by the vision and guidelines from Waseela leader-

ship, sheer hard work & commitment of the professional teams and trust of our customers. I am thankful to all departments who

despite extremely committed schedules at their end, found time to share their business analysis & reports with us. I hope you find

this newsletter interesting & informative to read.

Samiha Ali Zahid Editor

WASEELA

Insight

Branchless Banking: An Overview By Syed Hassan Ali

The history of branchless banking is no more than four-five

years old in Pakistan. The way this financial innovation has

been winning the hearts and minds of banking service providers

and consumers, the market has witnessed a new wave of com-

petition and in the year 2012 Pakistan saw tremendous growth

in branchless banking sector. Two telecom operators, Mobilink

partnered with Waseela Microfinance Bank launched Mobicash

whereas Zong and Askari Bank joined hands and launched

Timepay. HBL launched HBL Express in 2nd Quarter of 2013.

A number of other telecom operators and banks are in the pro-

cess of launching their branchless banking services in 2013.

In a country where only 12% of the population has access to

formal financial services, the domestic market has become high-

ly aware of branchless banking products being offered since the

launch of Easypaisa in 2009. Over 120 million transactions

were conducted with a total value of over Rs. 492 billion from

January to December 2012. In absolute terms, the value of

transactions and the number of transactions have been growing

and this growth trend will continue in 2013. The average number

of transactions conducted in the Q3 of 2012 was a little under

400,000 transactions per day according to the data provided by

the State Bank of Pakistan.

Page 2 Waseela Ins ight

Operations Department By Syed Shahab Hussain

Operations Department provides support through robust

development of policies, quality assurance, delivering

customer satisfaction, enhancing operational processes,

internal control procedures, capacity building through

effective training modules & value added process re-

engineering. Following staff members, under the guid-

ance of Head Operations, delivered exceptional output:

Taloot; one of WMBL’s pioneer for operations. He has

completed various User Acceptance Tests (UAT) for ac-

count opening, cash management and helped other

branches in launching their operations, including Lahore,

Lodhran, Karachi, Abbotabad and Bhakkar. Attributes:

hard working, passionate and problem solver.

Ahsan; Constantly burning midnight oil he has acted as

Operations Manager on several occasions and completed

all responsibilities within pronounced timelines. Also has

a mammoth contribution in supporting MobiCash from

branch side. Attributes: brilliant & committed.

Faiza; Through sheer Hard work, within 3 months was

able to Handle Cash Management Desks single-handedly

and with bearing zero supervision. No error/omission

reported. She would also keep the stride with Ahsan as

his backup. Attributes: confident and keen learner.

Year of Launch Timeline

2009 2012 2012 2013

Risk Management

By Arslan Sikandar

Risk Management is continuing to gain prominence. Today, it is critically important for financial institutions to manage and under-

stand risk. Risk is a fundamental element in the banking sector and not just a procedure or process therefore it must be infused in

the core of any financial institution.

WMBL Risk Management Department has played a significant role in the development & roll out of 3 loan products which also

includes system changes and continuous process flow improvement. Within a short span of only 6 months we have enrolled

1400+ borrowers having an exposure of more then 50 million. In the portfolio even secured exposure is up to 10+ million. Credit

quality is ensured before approving loans and so we have “0% Portfolio at Risk” to-date since inception. Credit risk management

in microfinance is important now than any other time in history, not only because of the recent crisis in financial markets but also

granting credit is the main source of its income, thus loans are largest and the most obvious source of credit risks for most finan-

cial institutions.

1400+ Borrowers 50 million Exposure 1 Day Approval Turn Around Time

In the near future Risk Management is working to develop an automated internal risk rating integrating the cash flow. Soon de-

ployment of operational risk mitigation mechanisms are to be implemented across all of WMBL branches. There is also a focus

on the revamping of the core banking system to monitor the portfolio in efficient manners. Hopefully, we will meet these challeng-

es head on as we always have.

A: FISAW DIHSAR—FINANCE B: NAQRUF RAHZA—BRANCHLESS BANKING C: MUNA LABQI— HR D: ARHEZ IVZIR—HR Answers to Childhood Memoirs:

Medal of Honor 2012

Page 3 Waseela Ins ight

Exclusive Interview with Ghazanfar Azzam, CEO Waseela Bank

Q. How do you feel about microfinance banks competing with commercial banks?

Micro banks have a very limited overlap with commercial banks on deposit mobilization side and

micro banks have a competitive advantage there. Micro banks can offer much better returns on

savings than commercial banks can afford to do and therefore it’s a win-win situation for both mi-

cro banks and savings or deposit customers.

Q. How do you see the microfinance banks and the market transforming in 5-10 years?

Micro banks are coming of age and on the road to attaining sustainability. They have already at-

tained leadership position in micro savings and lending segments and will continue to increase

their presence as well as market share in their chosen segments. Micro banks are poised to be-

come a small but extremely important component of banking and financial services industry at the

lower end of the market.

Q. What are some of the major challenges microfinance institutions in Pakistan face?

Apart from funding constraints, major challenge micro banks face in Pakistan is the quality of human resources. Quality of human

resources or capital is the key factor in success of any financial institution anywhere in the world and its absolutely true with micro

banks. Being new or start-ups, micro banks don’t have access to adequate and appropriate training resources and arranging or

providing these resources to meet the training and development needs of the staff will remain a challenge for many years.

“Quality of human re-

sources or capital is the

key factor in success of

any financial institution

anywhere in the world.”

Q. How do you suggest we take on and handle these challenges?

By not compromising on quality, selecting and hiring best and the brightest and then giving

them adequate and multi-dimensional on job training and experience. Maintaining a challeng-

ing but otherwise congenial work environment with growth opportunities for all and meeting

their expectations will be a challenge both for the institutions and us as management and em-

ployees.

Workplace Mannerism and its impact towards Productivity By Samiha Ali Zahid

Consider yourself surrounded by ill mannered, loud, and non-tolerant bunch of peo-

ple at work.

Even the thought is scary! Isn’t it? You are trying to discuss an im-

portant issue on the phone, while your surroundings are infested

with irrelevant noise! Such ill experiences resulted by rude or ill con-

siderate action of an individual remains at the back of our mind for much longer

time, resulting in extended time distraction, shunning mental focus, causing irrita-

tion & eventually widening the communication gap. Global researchers have linked

office mannerism and courtesies directly to the organizational performance. Follow-

ing are a few basic office manners which can help making office engagements

more comfortable and pleasant:

Personal hygiene and dressing at par with Business requirements/standards.

Conversation/communication etiquettes.

Consideration & Respect for the others, before indulging in any activity.

Adhering to Non-Smoking, Non-Littering, and Non-interference mannerism.

Using resources judiciously.

Non indulgence in gossip/rumors.

Food consumption related manners.

Vehicle parking etiquettes.

An instant boost in the Organizational culture and courtesies can be observed,

merely by observing the above listed actions.

Rating:

Outstanding

3.56

Atta ur Rehman

Branch Manager—ISB

Imran Bhutta

Compliance Officer—MUL

Vigilant in Compliance with a 0% error

rate while achieving 150% of his targets.

Integral role in hiring, training & branch

network expansion while achieving

354% of his liability targets.

Ghazanfar Azzam (Current CEO,

WMBL) started his career as a

Customer Service Officer in

Habib Bank Limited back in 1984.

Rating:

Outstanding

3.56

Page 4 Waseela Ins ight

IT Success Story

By Faisal and Ahmed

In this era, the Information Technology is the backbone for the suc-

cess of any organization. IT does not only provide computing services

to users, but is also a mean to increase the performance, efficiency

and effectiveness of the resources in an optimal way.

On the core banking side, TEMENOS T24 was deployed at Waseela

Bank that has provided the baseline for Branch Banking platform. In

addition, the core banking solution also has the capability to support

the Branchless Banking product. On the middleware pro-

ject (ATMs, Call Centers, e-Statement/SMS, Debit/Credit

Cards, Utility Bills Payment System, IVR etc.) thorough

analysis and documentation is carried out, that has now

also been approved by the board and is under procure-

ment phase. External services like NADRA Verisys and ECIB Services

were also provided to users during this period.

On the office computing environment, Active Directory setup, file serv-

er, MS Exchange and LAN/WAN connectivity for all Waseela Bank

sites is ensured. Business Continuity Management (that includes BCP,

BIA, DR, Call Tree etc.) was also ensured by IT Team, along with the

cooperation and input from business teams.

Currently IT is working on number of projects

that includes T24 Customization and Develop-

ment of Integrated Modules, Middleware Imple-

mentation, DR Setup Enhancement, Office 365 Deployment, Thin-

Client Deployments and Data Ware House Management. The IT Team

is confident that it will meet the expectations of all business segments

in an efficient and cost effective manner.

Waseela Branch Network Expansion 2013

Waseela Network Overview

Best Sellers

“Waseela Fori Cash Loan”

Salient Features:

Loan for agricultural & livestock

farmers up to Rs. 60,000;

3-4 days processing time;

One of our recently launched product which has been

a great success with our customers.

“Waseela Khushhal Kisan Loan”

Salient Features:

Gold secured finance facility up to Rs. 150,000;

2-3 hour processing time;

Highly competitive rates;

Free death and disability insurance;

Multiple payment modes according to business

needs.

One of our successful product which is penetrating

the market at high speed, especially popular in rural

areas.

For further details please visit out website:

www.waseelabank.com

Highly competitive rates;

Multiple payment modes according to business

needs;

Free death and disability insurance. CORE Data Center

MobilinkTEC

Remote

User

PMCL

Franchises

Internet

Cloud WMBL Branches

NADRA

0/

2

0/3/

0

0/

1

0/

1

Private/PublicCloud

WMBL Head Office/DR Site

PMCL Intranet

Page 5 Waseela Ins ight

Picture Gallery

‘Cricket Tournament’ March 2013

“Night or day, summers or winters I love play-ing cricket and really enjoyed this competition”

-Hamza Mehmood

‘Table Tennis Tournament’ March 2013

“Nothing better then a good table tennis match to test and develop individual

performance under pressure this event was perfect for that.”

-Wasif Rashid

‘Arm Wrestling’ February 2013

“Such an intense and enthusiastic compe-tition, spectating was never so much fun

before -Anum Iqbal

‘Way Forward’ November 2012

In an organization the team really matters, and team-

building is an on going pro-cess, looking forward to

more such trainings” -Usman Manzoor

‘Away Day’ Feb 2013

“Strategy, planning and execution, wrapped in a bundle of fun and we en-joyed every minute of it”

-Asim Javed

Answers are on the bottom of page 2, spelt backwards.

A

B

C

D

Editor: Samiha Ali Zahid Features and Design Editor: Adnan Reshi Review Board: HR Committee

For feedback and suggestions: [email protected]

Information Analyst: Anum Iqbal