Degree
Master of Business Administration Executive
Faculty / School
School of Business Studies (SBS)
Year of Award
2025
Advisor/Supervisor
Dr. Hilal Anwar Butt, Professor and Chairperson, Department of Finance
Project Type
MBA Executive Research Project
Access Type
Restricted Access
Keywords
Strategic Expansion, Data-Driven Decision Making, Branch Penetration, Market Penetration Analysis, Economic Growth, Banking Sector
Executive Summary
Meezan Bank is regarded as the largest Islamic bank in Pakistan and has positioned into a key player in the banking sector of Pakistan. The bank aims to increase the number of bank branches in underserved areas, namely rural and semi-urban tehsils, as it currently serves the majority of its customers in urban concentration areas. This project report goes into great length on a growth strategy that examines the tehsils in which Meezan Bank can expand, increase financial inclusion, and gain market share with deepening its market penetration.
Meezan Bank has established itself as one of Pakistan's top banks, but the absence of a systematic approach for choosing the best locations for new branches may hinder the bank's expansion. Following are the key problems faced by Meezan Bank at present:
1. Lack of Data-Driven Strategy for branch expansion.
2. Intuitive decision making while selecting branch locations.
3. Extreme competitive landscape in banking industry of Pakistan.
4. Meezan Bank’s strong presence in large urban cities but limited presence in rural areas and small cities.
The objectives of the project are to perform an analysis of available data, based on which, identify branches where Meezan has no branches, or where the gap between Meezan’s branches and leading bank is very high. Perform a comprehensive analysis of market, demographic, and economic trends in different areas of Pakistan as identified through data analysis. Propose a systematic approach and site selection criteria to identify new branch locations having good business potential. Assess prospective sites for future Meezan Bank branches in different parts of Pakistan or in selected districts and cities, taking into account factors including infrastructure, competitive landscape, demography like income levels and population density. Make suggestions regarding the best location for new branch openings in order to increase market share and profitability.
The analytics performed on Project data is all integrated in Power BI for visual representation of the data for quick decision making. All the information together provided a clear picture of existing Meezan Bank branch network in comparison to competitors highlighting untapped markets and all other factors leading to the final data model and potential location identification.
The analytics is performed on overall Pakistan including the Provinces, Capital Territory, Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan Territories. The analytics is further drilled down till the Tehsil Level in the Provinces and Capital Territory data along with the data segmentation based on Urban and Rural Areas.
However, due to limitation of data availability of Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan, the data analytics is performed separately in these areas with drilling down till District Level and considering overall area inclusivity without data segmentation into rural and urban areas.
Several Tehsils across Pakistan appeared as ideal options for branching out into following this extensive analysis. These results prove that there are huge prospects for Meezan Bank in rural Tehsils and small urban areas, especially in all provinces of Pakistan including Azad Jammu & Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. The Tehsils selected are ones where the growth in economy is outstripping that of banking sector penetration, hence potential locations for opening new branches by Meezan Bank. Out of 482 tehsils from all over Pakistan, we have identified and recommended 24 tehsils from Punjab province, 7 tehsils from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 5 tehsils from Sindh, 2 tehsils from Baluchistan and 9 tehsils from Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan in the rural and urban regions combined.
As per the results obtained by analytics performed on this project, the proposed strategic recommendations for Meezan Bank from branch expansion are as follows.
1. Meezan Bank's branch development must favor areas with low financial inclusion but high economic promise. Rural banking services, agribusiness and SME Financing services will allow the bank to tap into previously untapped markets.
2. In Tehsils where physical infrastructure might be lacking, the bank should prioritize digital banking provision, mobile banking services and ATM networks to increase access to financial services.
3. Meezan Bank could also tie its growth plans with government programs (e.g., 'Ehsaas Program', youth support, women empowerment and agriculture support programs) to increase brand awareness and acquire government-funded disbursements.
4. In Tehsils where there is a large presence of Pakistanis abroad, for instance in Gujranwala, Kharian, Dina, Mirpur Azad Kashmir, Poonch and in Swabi etc., the bank should focus on remittance services, both in the form of branches and digital platforms. The branch expansion plan of Meezan Bank is based on identifying high-growth-potential Tehsils in Pakistan where there is a strong demand for banking facilities. Meezan Bank can reach out to more customers, boost financial inclusion and reinforce its leadership in Islamic finance in Pakistan by targeting rural and semi-urban areas with low banking penetration but high economic activity. This comprehensive strategy means that the bank keeps developing sustainably, and at the same time keeps supporting the economic development of the country's marginalized areas.
Pages
xcix, 99
Notes
This research was conducted for Meezan Bank, the Premier Islamic Bank of Pakistan.
Recommended Citation
Hanif, R., Shamim, S., & Rizvi, S. H. (2025). Strategic branch expansion: optimizing market penetration for Meezan Bank in Pakistan (Unpublished graduate research project). Institute of Business Administration, Pakistan. Retrieved from https://ir.iba.edu.pk/research-projects-emba/680
