KARACHI: Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic bank, has recently signed a multi-faceted Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Shari’ah Research Academy for Islamic Finance (ISRA), aimed at jointly expanding the role of Islamic finance through collaborations on various aspects of this field. This comprehensive MoU further sets out a clear roadmap for research into the domains of Shariah and Islamic finance that should be facilitated by exchange of best practices in research and training. Meezan Bank would also be providing joint services with respect to arrangement of seminars, conferences, workshops and short-term courses.While commenting on this agreement, Irfan Siddiqui said: “This MoU recognises the critical need for addressing the Islamic finance challenges through collaborations and partnerships in order to meet the heightened demand for Islamic banking products and services. The Meezan Bank is committed to develop and promote Shariah-compliant finance industry and we are quite hopeful that this agreement would enhance opportunities through increased exposure and knowledge sharing.”