Updated 1st Nov at 12:00 hours
KARACHI: After Sima Kamil’s appointment as Pakistan’s first woman President of a big commercial bank earlier this year, today another female was given a leading role at Pakistan’s 5th largest bank. Mehreen Ahmed who was previously Retail Banking South & New Initiatives Group Head, will now be taking a more leading role at Bank Alfalah. Bank Alfalah’s President and CEO Nauman Ansari announced through an internal memo that several groups would now be directly reporting to Mehreen Ahmed who will now be leading the entire conventional Retail Banking Group (Retail North, Central and South), the Consumer Finance, SME, Bancassurance, Bank at Work, Products, Customer Experience and New Initiative (Branchless Banking, ADCs and Loyalty) teams. The Marketing Function has also been merged into Retail Banking Group and will directly report to Mehreen Ahmed until a replacement for the Head of Marketing is announced.
Mehreen Ahmed joined Bank Alfalah as Consumer Business & New Initiatives Group Head in April 2012. Mehreen has over 20 years of banking experience and has worked with Soneri Bank, MCB Bank and Standard Chartered Bank previously. She has a vast experience in Retail, Consumer Business, Agri Finance, Bancassurance, Marketing Services and Product Development departments.
Nauman Ansari expressed his satisfaction on the financial performance in Q3 2017. The notification read that in a push towards the right organisational structure and in order to maintain momentum, the bank would be going through major reorganisation. He shared his remorse over senior executives parting ways with the bank and wished them the best of luck. Ansari appreciated their contribution to the bank and wished them well.
According to the memo, HR & Learning and Corporate Services Group Head Faisal Farooq Khan, Chief Financial Officer Mirza Zafar Baig, RMM North Central & Consumer Finance Group Head Khurram Hussain, Chief Marketing Officer Aly Mustansir, Merchant Banking Group Head Imran Zaffar, and CIBG & International Business Group Head Saad-ur-Rehman would be leaving the bank. Fakhar Ahmad will now hold the office of CIBG & International Business Group Head until a replacement for Saad is announced.
It was also highlighted that Public Markets Head Imtiaz Gadar will now be leading Private Markets team and the Investment Portfolio and will report directly to Treasury & FI Group Head Ali Sultan.
United Bank Limited (UBL) had appointed Sima Kamil as their new CEO earlier this year. Apart from a woman president at The First Women’s Bank, Sima was the first woman in Pakistan to become the head of a commercial bank in Pakistan. in the past women have been neglected in the banking industry but this new trend has encouraged women to the forefront within the banking sector.
Nauman Ansari reassured the entire team at Bank Alfalah and said that he was certain that Bank Alfalah’s best days are yet to come.
