Pakistani Women Who Proved Mettle in Financial Sector

The world is celebrating International Women’s Day today to recognize the services of gender constituting nearly half of the total global population and an integral part of the economy too. Not differently from other parts of the world, Pakistani women have excelled in different fields including the financial sector.

On this International Women’s Day 2021, we will look at some Pakistani women who persevered and proved their abilities in the financial sector.

Shamshad Akhtar

Shamshad Akhtar is one of the prominent figures in the country.

She served as the 14th governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the first woman in the country’s history to assume the charge.

Not just locally, Shamshad Aktar’s abilities were highly praised globally too as she served as a senior adviser to United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

Besides occupying the central bank’s top seat, Shamshad Akhtar also served as the Vice-President of the World Bank.

Rahat Kaunain

Rahat Kaunain Hassan has been recently appointed as the chairperson of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP).

She had previously served as the CCP chairperson from 2010 to 2013.

CCP was enlisted as the first regulatory authority from South Asia to be shortlisted by the Global Competition Review (GCR) for the Enforcement Award in the category ‘Agency of the Year – Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa’ for 2012.

Among her other badges of honor, Kaunain assumed the charge of Executive Director at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in 2001 and independent directorships of different companies listed in the stock market.

Zara Naeem Dar

Pakistani student Zara Naeem Dar earned the honor for the country as she scored the highest marks globally in the global professional accountancy exams conducted by ACCA (the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

More than 527,000 students from across the world appeared in the exams but Zara Naeem passed it with flying colors and earned Pakistan global recognition.

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Sima Kamil

Sima Kamil is another prominent banker of Pakistan and the first woman to take the driving seat of a major bank in the country.

She served as the President and CEO of United Bank Limited in June 2017 after serving as the bank’s Deputy CEO for three months only.

Sima Kamil was recognized as an Influential Leader by Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in 2018.