M
alik Riaz’s stint as a banker has come to an end with Escorts Investment Bank going up for sale. The stint lasted for four years. Malik Riaz’s banking career came to life in 2017, when he bought the Escorts Investment Bank for exactly one rupee. Originally, the real estate tycoon had wanted to buy Burj Bank - a small but traditional commercial bank. However, his attempt had been blocked by the State Bank of Pakistan after the State Bank of Pakistan blocked his bid to buy Burj Bank - a traditional commercial bank which would have been better for his attempt at revamping Pakistan’s nearly non-existent mortgage market. The failure of Malik Riaz is a rare
BANKING
occurrence. In his 20 years as a real estate developer, he has proven himself to be ruthless in his pursuit of expansion, and intuitive in his understanding of what people want. That is why in 2017, he bought the Escort Investment Bank for a grand total or one rupee. The acquisition was a piece of news that had everyone scratching their heads. Why would Malik Riaz want to buy a bank, and if it was to be able to offer people financing for his housing projects, wouldn’t he want to buy a commercial bank? Back then, Profit had covered Malik Riaz’s purchase of Escort Investment Bank, and in a vividly crafted story, this magazine’s managing editor, Farooq Tirmizi, explained why Malik Riaz would want to buy an investment bank in the first place and why it was bound to fail. Today, Profit has reliable news that the bank is
up for sale but has no buyers - because it is in such an undesirable state. So what did Malik Riaz do with the bank and why did he fail? Was he set out for failure from the very beginning or did something else go awry? This is a Profit obituary on Malik Riaz’s failed stint as a banker, and what the fallout of this failure could be on the ‘successful’ branding that Malik Riaz and Bahria Town rely on.
The Bahria Town concept
T
here is one and only one real cultural estimation of whether you have ‘made it’ in Pakistan – and that measure is whether veteran jour-
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