Sima Kamil becomes first woman to lead a major Pakistani bank

Sima Kamil becomes first woman to lead a major Pakistani bank

United Bank Limited (UBL), one of the country's largest banks, announced Monday that it had appointed Sima Kamil as the new president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the bank, to replace outgoing CEO Wajahat Hussain. Kamil, who will initially serve as deputy CEO at UBL, is slated to take over the top slot after May 31, when Hussain departs from the company. According to UBL's website, the bank controls assets of more than Rs1 trillion. It operates 1,281 branches all over Pakistan, including 22 Islamic banking branches and 1 branch in Karachi export processing zone, and 18 branches outside Pakistan. Kamil had previously been leading Habib Bank Ltd's (HBL) Branch Banking since 2011 and oversaw a large expansion of HBL's branch network. She dealt with HBL's retail, consumer, small and medium enterprises, and rural banking initiatives, as well as the bank's wealth management division as head of the HBL Asset Management Company Ltd. More recently, she lead the development and launch of HBL’s Women’s Market Program in an effort to promote HBL as the leading bank for women in Pakistan. She had previously been associated with the microfinance industry as a director of the First MicroFinance Bank.

She also has experience at international financial institutions, including American Express, a financial services company, and Standard Chartered Bank.

Kamil has a business degree from Kingston University in the UK and an MBA from the City University, London.

She chairs the Board of Governors of the Karachi Grammar School, and is a board member of the Notre Dame Institute of Education.