DIBPL appoints Muhammad Ali Gulfaraz as CEO
KARACHI: Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited (DIBPL) announced the appointment of Muhammad Ali Gulfaraz as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
Gulfaraz is an international banking executive with over 25 years of international and domestic experience in Corporate & Investment Banking, Strategy, Risk Management and Digital Transformation across UK, Europe and Pakistan.
Before joining DIBPL, Gulfaraz served as CEO & Managing Director of Bank of Khyber, where he led major digital, governance, and operational transformation initiatives. His global banking journey includes over a decade at Mizuho Corporate Bank (London, UK), where he served as Managing Director and Head of Corporate & Investment Banking for the UK, Ireland, and Nordic Countries.
He also spent more than 12 years with Bank of America (London, UK), rising to the position of Principal in the Global Corporate & Investment Banking Group. Additionally, he served as Executive Director at Fauji Foundation, where he oversaw strategic investments and board engagements across a wide portfolio of companies.
Speaking on his new role, Gulfaraz said that it is an honour to join Dubai Islamic Bank, which is part of a strong and dynamic group that seeks to become the most progressive Islamic Financial Institution in the world.
Gulfaraz is an alumnus of Cadet College Hasan Abdal. He holds a BA in Economics and MSc in Agricultural & Managerial Economics (Finance) from the University of California, Davis. He has also completed several professional training programmes in London, Tokyo and San Francisco.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Recorder
19 hours ago
- Business Recorder
Rail & road access to Central Asia, Europe & Russia to be game changer: Aleem
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Communications Abdul Aleem Khan has observed that access to Central Asian countries, Europe and Russia through rail and road connectivity will be a game changer. He emphasised that improving communication infrastructure is a key priority to achieve economic growth and meaningful discussions are under way with various countries in this regard. He expressed these views during a meeting with Ambassador of Kazakhstan Yerzhan Kistafin who called on him in Islamabad. The meeting included an in-depth discussion on matters of mutual interest, bilateral cooperation and the outcomes of the recent ECO (Economic Cooperation Organization) summit. Abdul Aleem Khan highlighted that strengthened partnerships between major South Asian countries will yield positive results. He reiterated Pakistan's commitment to playing a proactive role on all international platforms and expressed optimism about a brighter economic and financial outlook for the country in the coming days. Kazakh Ambassador Yerzhan Kistafin conveyed his goodwill gesture and congratulated Federal Minister Abdul Aleem Khan and the entire Pakistani nation on their success in the recent war with India. He acknowledged Pakistan's distinguished status in the Islamic World and expressed his nation's continued prayers and support. He also extended Eid-ul-Adha greetings and reaffirmed Kazakhstan's commitment to offering all possible support to Pakistan. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
Express Tribune
19 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Public input invited on SME finance guidelines
Listen to article To enhance access to finance for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has issued a comprehensive draft of revised Prudential Regulations (PRs) for SME financing. Aimed at promoting sustainable, responsible, and inclusive financing practices, the updated framework introduces new regulations while revising several existing ones to make them more principles-based and market-responsive. "In addition to the introduction of some new regulations, several existing PRs have also been revised to make the PRs principles-based, remove structural barriers in SME finance, encourage banks to leverage technology, and foster partnerships with fintechs and other non-financial service providers to better serve the financing needs of SMEs," the SBP stated. The draft PRs have been uploaded on SBP's official website for public consultation. The consultation period is open from June 5 to June 20, 2025. Feedback may be submitted at using the feedback form provided on the SBP website. "The change is needed from the grassroots level to ensure no one is left out," said the President of The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME), Zulfikar Thaver. He said the PRs were much needed because digital banking demands inclusive financing at all levelsfrom micro to medium enterprises. In this connection, the PRs had to be revised to accommodate all categories of SMEs. "Finance must be made accessible to every entrepreneur, from freelancers and home-based workers to upper-medium entrepreneurs," he said. "The definition has to be revised, as must the system of registration of entrepreneurs to make access to finance possible and easy." Thaver also stressed the need to teach risk management to bankers and to give banks the flexibility to finance entrepreneurs according to their needs. "The limits will have to be revised, as money has been devalued. In view of Islamic banking gaining ground, it is very important that every aspect of Islamic financing is included to make the PRs comprehensive and complete." He added that UNISAME has set up a committee of experts for an in-depth study and will submit suggestions accordingly. "The core issues in Pakistan's dismal performance in providing formal financing to SMEs (both debt and equity) are simple, somewhat by design, and may not be resolved without a structural change in how Pakistan's financial markets operate," said Hashim Raza, former CEO of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA). "For example," he said, "our financial markets are crowded by the government, which consumes around 65% of the total debt in any given year. The remaining 35% credit is barely enough to service corporate, trade financing, commercial, personal, etc." He explained that under these conditions, it does not make business sense for banks to venture into SME lending — especially when the cost of lending is high and so are the risks, both historically and based on actual performance over the past two decades. Raza said the SME financing market failure is further aggravated by the absence of a viable public or public-private SME financing bank. "It views SME financing as an issue of affordability when it is, in fact, an issue of access — just as microfinance was in the early 2000s in Pakistan." "As a result," he continued, "informal loan sharks, suppliers' credit, buyers' advances, and personal or family savings remain the primary sources of funding for an approximately — and very conservatively estimated — Rs1,500 billion SME debt financing market." "Only one-third of this is serviced by banks," Raza added. "According to SBP data, the total principal outstanding for the SME sector in Pakistan is about Rs470 billion. But even these numbers are misrepresentative — my estimate is that actual credit advanced to SMEs is less than Rs100 billion."
Business Recorder
2 days ago
- Business Recorder
SECP study outlines strategic roadmap reshaping Takaful sector
ISLAMABAD: The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) has published a comprehensive study titled 'Future of Takaful in Pakistan – A Diagnostic Study,' which assesses the current landscape of the Takaful sector, and outlines a strategic roadmap reshaping the Takaful sector in Pakistan. The study provides a detailed analysis of the Takaful sector's performance, market share trends, and comparison with conventional insurance, while highlighting the evolution of the regulatory framework since the introduction of Takaful in Pakistan in 2005. It also benchmarks Pakistan's Takaful sector against international markets, including Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Indonesia. Despite being part of the insurance sector for nearly two decades, Takaful currently constitutes only around 12% of the total insurance contributions in Pakistan. The study identifies key challenges impeding the sector's growth, such as limited public awareness, trust deficits in governance, inadequate product positioning, human resource constraints, regulatory gaps, and limited domestic Retakaful capacity. Recognizing the broader shift toward an Islamic financial the study proposes a series of targeted policy recommendations and action points to support this transition, including regulatory reforms, awareness initiatives, and stakeholder collaboration. The report can be accessed on the SECP's official website. The SECP encourages all stakeholders — including policymakers, regulators, insurers, and Shariah governance professionals—to review the study and actively participate in the collective effort to build a vibrant, takaful ecosystem in Pakistan. Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
