ISLAMABAD/KARACHI: The federal government on Friday appointed former deputy governor Jameel Ahmed, as the new governor of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) for a period of five years.
A notification issued by Finance Ministry on Friday stated that in exercise of powers conferred under Section 1I A (1) read with Section 14(1) of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Act 1956 (Amended 2021), Jameel Ahmad is appointed as Governor State Bank of Pakistan for a term of five (5) years with the approval of the President of Pakistan, upon the recommendation of federal government, with immediate effect.
The position of the governor SBP was vacant on May 4, 2022 after the completion of three-year tenure of Dr Reza Baqir and as per SBP Act 1956, the senior-most deputy governor Dr Murtaza Syed assumed the charge of acting governor.
Previously, the tenure of SBP governor was three years, however as per SBP Amendment Act 2021, the governor, deputy governors, and non-executive directors shall be appointed for a term of five years and shall be eligible for re-appointment only for one term of five years. Therefore, Jameel Ahmed has been appointed for a period of five years.
Currently, Jameel Ahmed is serving as Senior Advisor at the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, advising on a broad range of policy matters in various central banking areas including coordination for major projects of international organizations (e.g. IMF, World Bank, etc.) as well as transformation projects of Saudi Central Bank.
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Jameel Ahmed is likely to assume charge in a couple of days as currently he is in Saudi Arabia.
The immediate appointment of full-fledge Governor SBP is also come ahead of the monetary policy meeting to be held August 22, 2022.
Last month, the Ministry of Finance moved an official summary to the Prime Minister’s Office and proposed a list of six candidates for the slot of Governor SBP. The names include Zafar Masood President and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of Punjab (BoP), Acting Governor State Bank Murtaza Syed, former Deputy Governor State Bank Muhammad Jameel, former Deputy Governor State Bank Muhammad Ashraf Khan, Dr Aasim Hussain former IMF official and Saeed Ahmed civil servant from DMG Group.
Jameel Ahmed has a career as a Central Banker with sound leadership and management skills with over 31 years’ diversified Central Banking experience of working at the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) and the State Bank of Pakistan.
He served as Deputy Governor of Banking and Financial Markets & Reserve Management in the State Bank from April 2017 to October 2021. Transformed the bank supervision system by introducing risk-based methodology, issued and implemented latest international Basel capital adequacy standards, issued modern-age digital banking framework, established depositors’ protection scheme, strengthened bank resolution regime, launched Pakistan’s first retail payments gateway and took many other policy and regulatory initiatives.
He has extensive experience of working at senior positions in SBP in the areas of Monetary Policy and Operations, Exchange Rate & Reserve Management, Banking Policy and Regulation, Banking Supervision, Development Finance, Payment Systems and Financial Resource Management.
He actively contributed in development of many international standards at various global forums including working groups of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), Financial Stability Board (FSB), Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB), etc. while representing SAMA and SBP.
Jameel Ahmed also served as Member of the Monetary Policy Committee of SBP, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Deposit Protection Corporation of Pakistan, Member of the Policy Board of Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Pakistan Security Printing Corporation, Member of Board of Directors of National Institute of Banking & Finance. Also closely coordinated with various ministries and represented SBP in various Parliamentary committees including Senate and National Assembly committees.
He made significant contributions in formulating the policy and regulatory framework for the banking systems of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia and monitoring their financial soundness and stability.
Jameel also took several initiatives for training and knowledge transfer both domestically and internationally.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022