ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet has reportedly appointed a person as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), National Insurance Company Limited (NICL), who had earlier refused to join the organisation, well-informed sources told Business Recorder.
On April 20, 2021, Commerce Division apprised the Cabinet that NICL is a Public limited company with 100% equity of the Federal Government, working under the administrative oversight of the Ministry of Commerce. The management of NICL is headed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who is responsible for the administrative and financial management of the Company. In order to appoint CEO of NICL from the private sector, the post was advertised first on January 27, 2019 and Khalid Hamid was appointed as CEO of NICL after getting approval of Federal Government from December 12, 2019, but he did not assume his duties citing personal reasons.
Later on, the post was re-advertised on September 05, 2020. However, after due process, no candidate was found to be eligible for the position. Therefore, the post was re-advertised again with enhanced age limit on December 03, 2020 for the third time as per the decision of NICL BoD. As a result of the advertisement, nineteen applications were received. The Ethics, HR & Remuneration Committee of NICL in its 19th meeting held on January 14, 2021 scrutinized the applications and shortlisted six candidates who met the baseline criteria as laid down in the published advertisement.
In the light of the provision of the Public Sector Companies (Corporate Governance) Rules, 2013, the Board of Directors of NICL interviewed the shortlisted candidates in its 115th meeting held on February 15, 2021 and recommended the following three candidates for the position in order of merit: (i) Khalid Hamid ;(ii) Muhammad Faisal Siddiqui and (iii) Shahzad Farooq Lodhi.
The Ministry of Commerce subsequently forwarded the above list to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for concurrence in light of the fit and proper criteria for the post.
The names of the following three candidates, in order of merit, recommended by the BoD of NICL were, therefore, submitted to the Federal Cabinet for consideration and appointment of any one of them as the CEO, NICL in MP-I Scale on a contract basis for a period of three years: (i) Khalid Hamid; (ii) Muhammad Faisal Siddiqui and (iii) Shahzad Farooq Lodhi.
After deliberations, the Cabinet approved the appointment of Khalid Hamid as the CEO, NICL. The Cabinet further directed that terms and conditions of CEO, NICL shall be determined by the Board or the Company in general meeting as provided in Section 188(1) of the Companies Act, 2017.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021