Zafar Masud

Zafar Masud is a development and social-impact-focused banker, entrepreneur, and public sector expert with over 30 years of success in Banking, Development Finance, Energy, and Corporate Governance.

He has held top positions in multinational banks within and outside Pakistan, including American Express Bank, Citigroup, Dubai Islamic Bank, and Barclays Bank PLC, where he served as Regional Managing Director & CEO for Southern Africa, managing a total balance sheet of USD 3 Billion and 10,000 people. Zafar served two consecutive as Member, Board of Directors, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), for two consecutive three-year terms: from March 2013 until 2019. He had served as the Chairman of Publications Review Sub-Committee and Members of Human Resources and Investment Sub-Committees of the Board. His contribution on the Board, particularly in the areas of Publications, Monetary Policy, Foreign Remittances/ Investments, Banking and Human Resources, has been recognized and praised, across the board.

He has contributed in the revitalization & transformation of National Savings, Ministry of Finance

(MoF), Government of Pakistan (GoP), where he remained as Chief Executive/ Director General for two years (2016-18). He was instrumental in initiating a digital transformation of the organization with the support of Gates Foundation, Foreign Commonwealth & Development Office (formerly, DFID) Government of UK, USAID and the World Bank. During his tenure at National Savings, he had successfully launched welfare products for Differently-abled Persons and Shuhadah’s Families and set in motion the launch of Overseas Pakistanis Savings Certificates and Shariah Compliant Savings Schemes.

Between 2018 and 2020, he had the honor of being the Founding CEO (Interim) for InfraZamin Pakistan (IZP) - a Private Infrastructure Development Group, UK (PIDG) driven initiative - for setting-up first of its kind credit enhancement company in Pakistan for social infrastructure financing in local currency, working closely with Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in framing the necessary rules and regulations to allow entry and functioning of such entities into this very important arena of infrastructure financing in Pakistan. He’s currently serving on the Board of Directors of IZP as nominee director of the main sponsor - InfraCo Asia Singapore.

He also rendered his services as Director on the Boards of major public and private sector entities including Port Qasim Authority (PQA), Quaid-e-Azam Thermal Power (Private) Limited, Gadoon Textile Mills Limited, etc.

He has remained a member of the IMF motivated Task Force on Framing State Owned Entities (SOE) Law set-up by the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan.

Mr. Masud was earlier appointed as Convener of one of the largest interest free loan programs in Pakistan— an innovative poverty-alleviation and social-safety project of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan. In addition to designing the entire program, he was credited for managing it end-to-end, quickest and smoothest execution, with exceptional success, including getting the program consented from IMF and the World Bank.

Since April 2020, Mr. Zafar Masud has been serving as President & CEO of The Bank of Punjab (BOP) - the second largest public sector bank in the Country with US$ 7 Billion in balance sheet size and over 14,000 staff. He is spearheading a strategic transformational drive to steer BOP towards cutting-edge digitally motivated financial institution, to be positioned in industry’s top-tier banks with focus on empathy, compassion and the best in class corporate governance practices. He is leading the Board of Directors of Oil & Gas Development Company Limited - the largest entity in Pakistan in terms of market capitalization with foreign listing, as it’s non-executive Chairman.

In May 2020, he miraculously survived the PK8303 airplane crash in Karachi. His colleagues dedicated a book to him called “The Miraculous Survivor”.

He has been decorated with the highest civil award of Hungary in August 2021 for spearheading the initiative to furthering Hungarian-Pakistani cross cultural ties, by restoring ~175-years old subcontinental artwork of Hungarian Artist August Schoefft.

Mr. Masud is an MBA (‘93) with specialization in Banking from IBA Karachi and an alum of Insead, Fontainebleau France Campus, qualified in Corporate Governance.

He’s a regular contributor to local and international media, including Tedtalk, etc., on the topics of banking, economics and energy and is also an author of a publication in two volumes titled “Out of the Box” which is a collection of his various newspaper articles, write-up and presentations on these topics. Coauthored a publication on pension reforms with the DfID/ FCDO consultants for KPK. Featured, the only one outside Western Hemisphere, in 30 Transformative insights from Greatest Minds by best-seller

author Scott Miller in his book "Master Mentors - Volume 2".

His latest book - Leased Breath - based on his musings as aircrash survivor, is presently under publication.