RASHID NAWAZ CHEEMA

Managing the Corporate Banking Portfolio in the Western Region. In addition to that, I have been supervising the Syndication Team covering Kingdom-wide portfolio.

Owned by Abu Dhabi Group, Bank Alfalah Limited is one of the largest private commercial banks operating in Pakistan with a local network of around 600 branches (including 140 stand-alone Islamic Banking Branches) coupled with overseas operations in Bangladesh, Afghanistan & Bahrain.

Worked as Head of Corporate & was responsible for the entire Corporate portfolio of Islamic Banking Group across the country.

Worked as Head of Credit - Islamic Banking Group at Country Office in Lahore. Bank Alfalah’s Islamic Banking Operations are 2nd largest among all Banks (140 branches) offering Islamic Banking Services in the country. Handled overall Credit for all countrywide branches, catering to Corporate, Commercial, SME & Consumer Financing. Was responsible for setting up the overall direction of the Group with respect to Advances, Approving/ Recommending Credit Risk, Monitoring/ Recovery of Non-performing advances & ensuring adherence to the Bank’s Policies & State Bank of Pakistan’s regulations

My main responsibility was the Relationship Management of the entire Corporate portfolio of the Islamabad/ Rawalpindi Region comprising of leading corporate names from Telecommunication, Fertilizer, Power, Real Estate/ Construction, Edible Oil & Textile sector. I was also responsible to arrange/participate various syndicated facilities in liaison with other banks. During this period, we managed to obtain mandates for significantly large corporate deals, negotiated term sheets, devised structures for those transactions & arranged processing through Investment Banking arm of the Bank.

I joined the Bank as Manager, Credit & Marketing at Rawalpindi Main Branch with 6 persons directly reporting to me. When I was elevated to the position of Area Corporate Manager, the portfolio had increased by 540%, making it not only one of the largest Corporate Branch of the Bank in terms of Advances but also one of the largest Branch of any Private/ Foreign Bank operating in the entire Rawalpindi City. Branch’s annual foreign trade volume was also the among the top 3 branches in the country.

Emirates Bank International PJSC is owned by the Government of Dubai and used to operate in Pakistan with a network of 10 branches (Since 2002, Pakistan operations of the Bank have been taken over by a local commercial bank). I joined the Bank in Karachi as a Management Trainee & later worked as an Assistant Manager (Team Leader) in the Corporate Banking Department of Bank’s Lahore Main Branch. Independently handled an Asset Portfolio comprising of multinationals as well as local Corporates. Responsibilities included marketing of fresh business, credit initiation, appropriate structuring and post-disbursement management of existing relationships. Structured various working capital, trade related & cash management facilities for various corporate clientele.