THE Bank of Punjab announces its decision to establish a representative office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and a Wholesale Banking Unit (WBU) in the Kingdom of Bahrain, subject to approval from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and other regulators, as per a press release. This expansion marks a critical step for BOP. By establishing a presence in these key international markets, BOP aims to foster stronger financial ties and offer its customers enhanced banking solutions that meet their evolving needs. The recent reaffirmation of BOP`s credit rating by the Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (Pacra) underscores the bank`s strong financial health and stability. Pacra reaffirmed BOP`s longterm rating at AA+ and short-term rating at A1+, reflecting its sound risk management practices and robust capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of 17.5pc, which is a significant improvement over its CAR of 12.27pc in 2021. •