JS Group eyes majority shareholding in BankIslami.

KARACHI -- JS Bank Ltd said on Tuesday it wants to acquire more than 51 per cent shares and control of BankIslami Pakistan Ltd.

One of the smallest lenders in terms of market capitalisation, JS Bank already owns 7.79pc shareholding in the country's second largest Sharia-compliant bank.

Speaking to Dawn, Topline Securities Research Director Umair Naseer said it's unclear at the moment whether the transaction will ultimately lead to a side-by-side existence of the two banking institutions or the surrendering of licence by one of the two entities.

BankIslami is already an associated company of JS Bank. It acquired 7.79pc of the Sharia-compliant lender last week. Jahangir Siddiqui and Company Ltd, which is the parent entity of JS Bank, separately owns a 21.26pc stake in BankIslami.

This means the JS Group is already in control of 29.05pc shareholding in the Islamic bank. Other shareholders in BankIslami are its chairman Ali Hussain (19.83pc), Shabir Ahmed Randeree (11.54), Ahmed G.M. Randeree (7.93pc), Saj Capital Management (4.54pc) and others (27.11pc).

Islamic banking has a huge potential for growth given that it's currently dominated by one unusually big player (Meezan Bank) that owns more than half of all the branches operated by full-fledged Islamic banks in Pakistan.

Banks are expected to transition from a mostly conventional to completely Islamic system in the next five years as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP)...