ISLAMABAD: Ministry of Finance has postponed the interviews for the post of president/CEO of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).
Sources said that the government has grilled the high ups of the finance ministry for handpicking candidates for President NBP.
MoF has shortlisted some candidates who are over 62 years and as per the law, candidates upto 62 year age are eligible for the post of President NBP.
Sources said that the ministry of finance will reconsider the list of candidates as a pick and choose policy was adopted in selecting candidates.
Sources said that the finance minister should remain cautious in matters relating to NBP as Ismail Industries has reportedly obtained a hefty loan from the bank.
Earlier, it emerged that finance minister Miftah Ismail selected 10 out of 40 candidates.
These candidates include Tahir Hassan Qureshi, Javed Kureishi, Hassan Raza, Khurshid Zafar, Tahir Yaqoob Bhatti, Farrukh Iqbal Khan, Sultana Naheed, Tariq Javed Ghumman, Muhammad Abdullah Ahmed and Imran Sarwar.
A seven member interview committee comprising the finance minister, State Minister for Finance and Revenue Ayesha Ghous Pasha, finance secretary, additional finance secretary Tariq Bajwa, Jehzaib Khan and Shahid Mahmood were supposed to conduct the interviews on August 13.
Sources said that the selected candidates were working in ABL, HBL and Askari bank.
As per the details, Tariq Hassan Qureshi retired from ABL two years ago and was not given any assignment. He previously worked in finance positions in HBL, MCB and as CFO ABL.
Similarly, Hassan Raza worked in UBL and HBL as group head SAM and retired many years ago.
Khurshid Zafar is SEVP in Askari bank. He was appointed as SEVP in NBP during Nawaz Sharif’s tenure but he did not take up the post. He is son of Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qureshi who was professor at LUMS, FC University and adviser to Shahbaz Sharif when he was CM Punjab.
Farukh Iqbal Khan started as OG2 in SBP. He later moved into banking and became SEVP operations at Askari. Recently appointed as President First Women Bank Limited but delayed taking charge due to salary discrepancy.
All others are junior people and working in different banks, sources added.
