Imran Sarwar Appointed New President and CEO of National Bank of Pakistan

Notably, the Federal Administration has appointed Mr. Imran Sarwar as President and CEO of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) for a period of three years, with immediate effect.

Key points

• A notification issued by the Finance Division's Internal Finance Wing, dated September 3 and marked for publication in the Official Gazette of Pakistan Part-III, confirmed the appointment.
• The appointment follows Tuesday's "Secret/Immediate" Cabinet Division memo, documented first by Mettis Global.
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• NBP's Chief Financial Officer Abdul Wahid Sethi has been temporarily running the bank in the meantime.
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Notably, a notification issued by the Finance Division's Internal Finance Wing, dated September 3 and marked for publication in the Official Gazette of Pakistan Part-III, confirmed the appointment. It was created under Section 11(3)(a) of the Banks (Nationalization) Act, 1974, referenced under file number F.No.1(9)Bkg-III/2022-696, and signed by Amna Shabbir, Deputy Secretary to the Administration of Pakistan.

For context, the appointment follows Tuesday's "Secret/Immediate" Cabinet Division memo, documented first by Mettis Global. It confirmed a cabinet decision had been reached but withheld the appointee's identity pending formal notification.

Imran Sarwar joins NBP from United Bank Limited (UBL), where he served as Group Executive – Risk and Credit Policy and Chief Risk Officer, overseeing the bank's risk architecture and credit policy framework.

He brings more than 27 years of leadership, strategy and risk experience throughout banking markets in Pakistan, the UAE, the UK and Australia.

After a run of senior positions at the bank throughout both the UAE and Pakistan, before UBL, he held senior roles at Standard Chartered Bank, most lately as Managing Director and Head of Corporate Banking for the UAE. SBP Profit Declines by Rs. 507 Billion in FY26.

His board experience includes directorships at Khushhali Microfinance Bank and the Pakistan Mortgage Refinance Firm (PMRC), where his profile credits him with setting risk policy and governance frameworks drawing on his cross-border banking background.

On the academic side, Sarwar holds a business and accounting degree from Ohio Wesleyan University in the United States and an LLB from the University of Punjab, a risk-and-law combination that colleagues at PMRC and Khushhali have pointed to as central to his credit-governance approach.

When the Finance Division opened applications for NBP's top job after Rehmat Ali Hasnie's exit after a final extension expired on August 21, his appointment closes out a selection process that ran since mid-June.

NBP's Chief Financial Officer Abdul Wahid Sethi has been temporarily running the bank in the meantime. In mid-August, a panel led by the Finance Minister interviewed nine candidates for the job. Stay Connected with ProPakistani.

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Taken together, the developments around imran Sarwar Appointed New President and CEO of National Bank of Pakistan point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.