Regional investment bank EFG Hermes announced it has opened its office in Pakistan, “making it the first foreign investment bank to directly enter the market and the first foreign broker to have a local footprint in the country since 2008.” The opening follows EFG Hermes’ acquisition of Pakistani brokerage Invest and Finance Securities, which will now operate as EFG Hermes Pakistan Limited. “In moving into Pakistan and other markets, our goal is to replicate [in frontier markets] our growth out of Egypt into the Gulf Cooperation Council in the early 2000s … Pakistan was our first choice for geographic expansion outside what was previously our core MENA footprint, sharing as it does many of the same characteristics as Egypt, our original market,” CEO Karim Awad says. “We will be particularly focused on securities brokerage, research and on investment banking advisory … We will also be pushing ahead with new voice and mobile trading for high-net-worth individuals as we upscale our existing retail brokerage business this year,” added CEO of EFG Hermes Frontier Ali Khalpey.