The National Bank of Pakistan has signed a new home remittance agreement with Saudi Arabia's Bank Al Jazira, one of the kingdom's leading Islamic financial institutions.

The collaboration between NBP and BAJ will give expat Pakistanis the ability to send money from Saudi Arabia to family and friends back home within minutes.

Remittances can be sent from more than 48 retail branches of Bank Al Jazira located in key towns throughout Saudi Arabia and received at any of NBP's 1327 branches nationwide. Recipients will also be able to retrieve the money without having a personal bank account.

BAJ commenced its business on Oct. 9, 1976, with the takeover of the National Bank of Pakistan's branches in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
BAJ began a restructuring process in 1992 with subsequent increases in capital in 1992 and 1994. The increased capital came entirely from the Saudi shareholders, which resulted in significantly diluting NBP's shareholding.

In 1998, BAJ's board of directors took a strategic decision to convert the bank from conventional banking into Sharia-compliant banking.