Govt appoints Arif Usmani as NBP president

KARACHI: The government appointed Arif Usmani as president/chief executive officer of the National Bank of Pakistan, a notification said on Tuesday.

“In exercise of powers conferred under section 11(3) (a) of the Banks (Nationalisation) Act, 1974, the federal government is pleased to appoint Arif Usmani as president/chief executive officer, National Bank of Pakistan for a term of three years with immediate effect,” the notification issued by the finance division said.

Usmani would replace Tariq Jamali, the senior executive vice president of the NBP. Jamali was serving as acting president since August 29, 2018.

Usmani is a seasoned banker with more than 35 years of experience across several geographic markets and senior positions in various banking disciplines, including a number of critical risk management positions in the Asia Pacific region.

Usmani started his banking career with Citi Pakistan in 1981 following his graduation from the Imperial College of London. He was a unit head for the corporate banking group and since then held a number of senior positions.

At Citigroup, Usmani applied his global banking expertise across several geographies which include Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, West Africa, Slovakia, Hong Kong and Singapore. After spending more than three decades at Citigroup, he joined Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) as global head of wholesale banking in 2012. He has been head of risk management at Mashriq Bank since 2017.

Arif also won several awards over the course of his career including the Managing Director’s Performance Award 3 years in a row for his role and contribution as Division Head with SAMBA, Saudi Arabia's second largest bank.

The state-owned NBP is Pakistan’s second largest bank after Habib Bank Limited.

The bank recorded a 10 percent growth in its profit to Rs16.18 billion for the nine months period ended on September 30, translating into earnings per share (EPS) of Rs7.60.