LAHORE
ECO Trade and Development Bank President Javaid Aslam has come into the limelight after his differences with the staff of the bank have surfaced, which escalated the situation quickly. According to the recent email sent by the staff to the board of governors, which is available with Pakistan Today, the staff has raised their reservations against the president who they think is inefficient and incompetent to be running the post.
Appointed by the Board of Governors, Javaid Aslam took his office at the Headquarters of the Bank in İstanbul and will serve as the ETDB’s President and the Chairman of the Board of Directors until the end of October 2019. He brings with him 40 years of experience of working in trade, management and development sectors.
It is also learnt that Javaid Aslam was a former principal secretary to the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Being a blue-eyed bureaucrat, he is known to have close ties with the government and has been blessed with high posts.
It is also pertinent to note that the president of ECO Bank is appointed by the government of the native country. Earlier, when Pakistan nominated officials for the post of vice president of the bank, the nominees were seen to have banking experience on their backs. However, the fact that President Javaid has no banking background makes his appointment as the president nothing short of astonishing. Doubts have been raised to the merits of his appointment.
In a multi-point complaint, the first on the list was regarding his inexperience in the banking sector. Employees feel that his 40 years administrative experience doesn’t qualify him for the job when in reality, he has zero banking routine and operations experience.
Pointing out the lack of professionalism in his approach they wrote, “Since his first day in ECO Bank, he has not stayed in the bank for more than 3 hours each day.”
They further stressed that Javaid’s lack of banking experience impedes his communication ability with the other professional staff members.
They also accused him of being short-tempered, since he ‘shouts, insults and threatens bank staff’ during meetings.
In the end, they have called on the governors to resolve the issues before the actions of the president harm the bank further.
Javaid Aslam, born in 1955 in Punjab, Lahore, is the third President of the ECO Trade and Development Bank (ETDB).
The legal representative and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Bank is the president. The president is being appointed by the Board of Governors and also serves as chairman of the Board of Directors. The president together with the two vice-presidents constitutes the Management Committee. As per the current organisation structure approved by the Board of Governors, there are 18 departments and two representative offices in Karachi and Tehran reporting to the President and two Vice-Presidents. The main operational documents have been also approved by the management of the bank.
