Renowned banker Muhammad Aurangzeb is likely to become Pakistan’s next finance minister as newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is set to announce his federal cabinet.
According to sources, former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar is now out of the race for the finance minister slot, a position he held during the previous tenure of Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister. However, the former finance minister is likely to get some other important position in the government.
Aurangzeb, the likely new finance minister, is currently the President of HBL, he joined the bank as President & CEO back in April 2018.
Prior to this responsibility at HBL, he was the CEO of JP Morgan’s Global Corporate Bank based in Asia, with a rich international banking experience of over 30 years in other senior management roles at ABN AMRO and RBS based in Amsterdam and Singapore.
He is the only Pakistani to be invited to the exclusive membership of the Global CEO Council organized by WSJ / DowJones group. He is also Chairman of the Pakistan Banks Association, Director of the Pakistan Business Council, and Council Member at the Institute of Bankers Pakistan. He received his BS and MBA degrees from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania).
However, some sources say that Aurangzeb could be nominated as Special Assistant to the PM as he does not currently hold Pakistani citizenship which is a hurdle in him becoming the finance minister.