PM Shehbaz meets global financial firms in London, invites them to invest and expand services in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday met with senior executives from leading global financial institutions in London and invited them to invest and expand their services in Pakistan.

During a busy day in the UK capital, the premier held a series of meetings with top officials of Barclays, JP Morgan, Citi, BlackRock and Rothschild & Co.

Earlier in the day, he also became the first Pakistani prime minister to open trading at the London Stock Exchange, according to his office.

In a statement, the PM’s Office (PMO) said the premier’s engagements with the global firms “underscored growing international financial sector interest in Pakistan’s economic reform trajectory and improving investment climate”.

In his meeting with a high-level JP Morgan delegation led by its co-CEO for Europe, Middle East and Africa Matthieu Wiltz, PM Shehbaz invited the firm to expand its footprint in Pakistan.

He discussed deepening the partnership across capital markets, trade finance and investment banking.

According to PMO, the JP Morgan delegation “reaffirmed its interest in sovereign debt capital markets and corporate banking opportunities”.

Meeting with Mohammad Kamal Syed, head of Private Bank and Wealth Management UK at Barclays, PM Shehbaz briefed him on the government’s macroeconomic stabilisation measures and encouraged Barclays to explore opportunities in the country’s financial sector.

The prime minister welcomed the bank’s “interest in Pakistan”, PMO said.

PM Shehbaz also met with Rothschild & Co, represented by Chair of Geostrategic Advisory Lord Mark Sedwill and Head of UK Investment Banking Majid Ishaq.

“Discussions centred on Pakistan’s geo-economic priorities and potential advisory collaboration on capital markets and investment strategy,” PMO said.

The premier also met a group of senior officials of Citi, led by Chief Client Officer David Livingstone, encouraging the bank to expand its “corporate and institutional banking services” in Pakistan.

The prime minister commended Citi’s long-standing presence in Pakistan, the statement added.

In his meeting with a BlackRock delegation, PM Shehbaz “invited increased allocations to Pakistani equities and fixed income within the firm’s frontier markets strategy, with both sides emphasising the importance of sustained policy consistency in building investor confidence”.

The delegation comprised the co-heads of Emerging Markets and Frontiers, Gordon Fraser and Sam Vecht, along with Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst Emily Fletcher.

“Across all engagements, the visiting executives expressed confidence in Pakistan’s economic reform momentum and reaffirmed their institutions’ commitment to deepening engagement with the country’s financial sector,” PMO said.

It asserted that the meetings reflected the “growing traction of Pakistan’s economic reform programme among the world’s leading financial institutions”.

The engagements also “mark a significant step in the government’s broader effort to strengthen international investor confidence and attract sustained capital flows into the country”, the statement highlighted.

Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Adviser to PM on Privatisation Muhammad Ali, who also heads the Privatisation Commission, were present in the meetings as well.

London Stock Exchange ceremony

In an earlier statement, PMO noted that PM Shehbaz became the first prime minister from Pakistan to open the London Stock Exchange’s (LSE) trading session.

He also formally inaugurated Pakistan’s landmark $3 billion dual-tranche sovereign Eurobond, raised earlier this month.

LSE’s market opening ceremony is held at its headquarters in Paternoster Square and formally marks the start of the trading day in London.

London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) Chief Executive Officer David Schwimmer and senior officials of the group welcomed the prime minister on his arrival.

Aurangzeb, the LSEG CEO, the Privatisation Commission head, Pakistan High Commissioner Tipu Usman, members of the Pakistani delegation and relevant British authorities attended the ceremony.

“Pakistan in recent years has worked very hard to strengthen its economy,” PM Shehbaz said while addressing the audience, terming the country’s improved macroeconomic indicators as “promising” for the future.

He went on to praise Aurangzeb and his team for arranging the Eurobond sale, which he said explained “our hard work” in volumes.

The premier claimed that if the Middle East conflict had not erupted, Pakistan would have “taken off like other emerging economies”.

He also highlighted Islamabad’s role as a mediator in the war between the United States and Iran,

“Now is the time, because of this Gulf crisis, new lessons have to be learnt,” PM Shehbaz stressed.

“Investors are now trying to evaluate and assess safer markets and Pakistan is a market where we can easily attract foreign investments, which are highly profitable, mutually beneficial, safe and secure,” he noted.

The prime minister expressed “his happiness on his participation to open London Stock Exchange session” and termed it a step towards “rebuilding their wonderful connection” with LSE, PMO said.

Addressing the LSEG CEO, the premier said that they would like to seek his guidance and advice on how to further engage international financial markets to play a role in Pakistan, not just in terms of sovereign debt but through very attractive investments.