CDC Board shortlisted candidates for position of CEO

CDC Board submits recommendations in favour of most junior candidates for this post

KARACHI: The Board of Central Depository Company (CDC) has shortlisted four candidates for the position of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of central depository. The shortlisted candidates are Zafar Abdullah, Akif Saeed, Naveed Qazi and Badiuddin Akber.

The inside sources said, “the CDC board has selected the Badiuddin Akber, the most junior among shortlisted candidates and will recommend his name for the approval of the SECP.” The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has the authority to approve the appointment of CDC’s CEO, under section 50(7) of the Securities Act, 2015 read with regulation 10(3) of the Central Depositories (Licensing and Operations) Regulations, 2016.

The sources said that the CDC board has submitted their recommendations in favour of Badiuddin Akber, who is the most junior candidate of for this post.

Zafar Abdullah and Akif Saeed was former Commissioner of SECP, Naeed Qazi was former president of JS Bank and Badiuddin Akber is currently working as Chief Compliance & Risk officer at the CDC.

Aftab Ahmed Diwan, who had reached to his age of retirement, has been serving as an acting CEO of the CDC from July 19, 2017. However, due to reasons best known to CDC, the Board remains unable to make suitable appointment at CDC Board. The CDC has advertised the position in national newspapers four-month ago. The SECP had issued numerous letters to CDC board to timely appointment of its CEO.  A total 36 candidates have been appointed on the position of CEO of CDC, out of which the above four were shortlisted for new CEO.

Naveed Qazi is a senior banking executive with over 20 years of banking experience. Prior to becoming the President and CEO of JS bank Limited, he was associated with American Express Bank since 1986. He has served in various senior management positions, with the last designation being Chief Operations Officer. He had worked in the areas of consumer banking, trade finance, corporate banking, commercial, banking and overall bank management. Prior to this, he worked in Bank of Credit and Commerce International (1985-1986) and Exxon Chemicals Pakistan Limited (1984). He is also a Certified Credit Risk Management Professional with AEBL and has conducted seminars in AEBL on ‘Problem Solving Tools’ and Leadership. He holds a Masters in Business Administration degree and secured a gold medal in accounting from Institute of Business Administration.

Badiuddin Akber is currently serving as Compliance & Risk officer at the CDC. He had served as Chief Financial Officer, Company Secretary and Chief Operating Officer in Dewan Mushtaq Group, Orion Group and National Clearing Company of Pakistan Limited (NCCPL). He has also served CDC in the Legal and Compliance and Operations departments from 1998-2001 and re-joined CDC in June 2015.

Akif Saeed has completed his term as Commissioner in SECP on December 16, 2017. Akif has been associated with the SECP since 2004 and the federal government appointed him as Commissioner on December 2014. Prior to joining the SECP, he worked with American Express Bank as manager corporate banking for 9 years and Packages Limited for 3 years Akif earned his master’s in economics from Government College Lahore, and MBA from the University of Edinburgh.

Zafar Abdullah, has served as acting chairman of the SECP from July 24, 2017 to August 16, 2018. He has served as Commissioner in SECP from August 2012 to August 2018, for two terms, each of three years. Zafar holds a bachelor’s degree in commerce from the University of Karachi, and is a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. He had also served the SECP as Executive Director in the Securities Market Division, Karachi Stock Exchange as Chief of Operations, Central Depository Company as Head of Operations, Dewan Mushtaq Group as Chief Compliance Officer/ Company Secretary and Crosby Securities Pakistan Limited as Chief Executive Officer. However, as per SECP’s code of conduct, Zafar Abdullah has embargo of six month to join any company or institution who is being regulated by the SECP.

 

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