Board of Directors

Mr. Mustafa Ilyas serves as an adviser to Saudi National Bank (“SNB”), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 2021, and also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Samba Bank Limited Pakistan since October 27, 2022.

Prior to this he was at PwC for over seventeen years, the majority of which focused exclusively on the banking sector. The early part of his career with PwC focussed on providing external audit services to listed companies. He then specialised in due diligence assisting corporate and private equity investors on both buy and sell side.

Mr. Mustafa Ilyas is a Chartered Accountant and member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants England & Wales (UK). He holds a Master of Engineering from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine (London).

Mr. Ahmad Tariq Azam joined Samba Bank Ltd. in December 2013. He has almost 3 decades of diversified business and leadership experience in the banking and financial services sector with private banks, public sector banks, Non-Banking Financial Institutions, investment banks and leasing companies. Mr. Azam’s core experience lies in Wholesale Banking, Corporate Banking, Corporate Finance, Cash Management, Commercial Banking, SME Banking, Retail Banking, Remedial Assets Management, Real Estate Projects, and Administration.

At Samba, Mr. Azam has held different senior management positions. He joined as Head of Institutional Remedial Management (IRM), as a member of the Executive Team and also led Administration and Real Estate Project Management. In 2015, Mr. Azam became Group Head of Commercial Banking, and in 2016, Group Head Commercial & SME Banking. In 2020 he was appointed as Group Head Corporate & Investment Banking (CIBG) & Cash Management, and In March 2022, became Group Head, Wholesale Banking with a portfolio covering Commercial Banking, SME, CIBG & Cash Management.  

Prior to joining Samba, Mr. Azam worked with UBL, as Head Commercial Centres, Central & North. He was with NIB Bank from 2010 to 2013, working as Regional Head SME and next as Commercial and Head of Complex Card Unit. From 2009 to 2010, Mr. Azam was with Bank of Punjab as Head of Corporate & Investment Banking, and was previously with Pak-China Investment Company as Head of Corporate Finance.  Between 1998 and 2009, Mr. Azam worked with Bank Al Falah in different roles, with his last role as Area Head Branch Banking & SME. Before joining Bank Al Falah, Mr. Azam worked in Ibrahim Leasing, Islamic Investment Bank and PILCORP.

Mr. Azam’s mission in formulating and executing the Bank’s strategic direction included development of the business franchise through launch of Commercial & SME Business, revenue growth, cost control, team development and enhanced customer experience.

Mr. Azam holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Punjab, Lahore, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Punjab, Lahore He is also an alumnus of Cadet College Hassan Abdal & Government College, Lahore. In the course of his career he has attended many work-shops, conferences and seminars, and represented Samba at national and regional forums.

Mr. Nasser Sulaiman Al-Fraih is a career Banking Professional working with Saudi National Bank (“SNB”), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since 2007. Currently, he is Senior Executive Vice President, Head of Institutional and International at The Saudi National Bank, a member of the Wholesale Executive Management team, and oversees Global Markets, Financial Institutions, Public Sector and the International Branches and Rep. offices of SNB.

Prior to his current functions, Nasser held a number of key roles and leadership positions, and within the Treasury and Global Markets functions, he headed the Sales and client coverage mandates, managing the portfolio of client exposures to rates, commodities and foreign exchange across the Wholesale and Retail banks.  

He holds M.S., Engineering Management degree from The George Washington University, Washington D.C and a B.S., Business Information Technology, degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA. He has also completed the Advanced Management Program (AMP 191), from Harvard Business School, Executive Education, Boston, MA.

Mr. Hussein Eid is the EVP Finance (CFO) for Sela. He possesses professional career of more than 17 years including 14 years in the banking industry. Before Sela, he was holding the position of Deputy Group Chief Financial Officer (DCFO) and the CFO for Wholesale Bank at the Saudi National Bank (“SNB”), KSA. He joined the Saudi National Bank (“SNB”), KSA in May 2008 and worked in most of the functions within Finance Group including Financial Control and analytics for Corporate, Treasury & Retail, External and Internal Financial & Management /Performance Reporting and analytics, Regulatory Reporting, Accounting Policies, ECL & IFRS 9, Technical Accounting & Financial Systems, Accounting & Finance Operations including Tax/Zakat/VAT, payments and GL, Performance, Forecasting, Planning and Budgeting. Before joining SNB, Mr. Hussein was associated with Saudi Economic & Development Company (SEDCO HOLDING), KSA, for a period of 3 years and worked in the Finance Division. He started his career with Unilever Arabia in June 2004 in Finance Division as an intern.

Mr. Hussein holds a Bachelor degree in Accounting from King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, KSA and Master of Professional Accounting (MPA) from King AbdulAziz University, KSA.

He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) from Colorado State Board of Accountancy, USA, Certified Management Accountant (CMA) from the Institute of Certified Management Accountants, USA, Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) from American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and holds the Diploma in International Financial Reporting Standards from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), UK.

Mr. Hussein Eid also is a board member, audit committee member and NRC member in Samba Bank Limited, a listed bank in Pakistan.

Previously, he was a board member in ORYX regional private equity fund, Bahrain, and executive committee member in the Saudi Financial Lease Contract Registry Company (SIJIL), KSA.

Mr. Timour Pasha is a Senior Corporate Banking Professional with over 30 years of banking experience. Over 13 years with Saudi National Bank (pre-merger known as Samba Financial Group). Prior to this he spent 17 years with Citigroup. Mr. Pasha is currently holding the position in Saudi National Bank as Head of Risk (under the Wholesale bank Risk architecture) for International and  Financial Institutions.
                     
Mr. Pasha started his career in 1992 with Citi group in their Corporate Banking Group and worked up to Country Corporate Banking Group head in 2004 for UAE. In 2006 moved with Citi group as Regional Head of Risk, Central & West Africa and Algeria where he was responsible for the portfolio of the Corporate & Commercial and Investment bank for six (6) countries including Algeria, Senegal, Cote D’Ivoire, Cameroon, Gabon and DRC Congo, where he worked on this position till 2008. In 2009, he joined Samba Financial Group (SFG) – Corporate & Investment Banking.

He holds a Master's degree in Business Administration (Finance Major) from Lahore University of Management Sciences and also a degree in Bachelor of Commerce from Karachi University, Pakistan.

Hafiz Mohammad Yousaf is a highly qualified professional having diversified qualifications from the renowned Institutions of Pakistan, USA, and Canada.  He is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), Fellow Member of American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), Member of Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants (CICA) and Member of Canadian Institute of Chartered Professional Accountants (CICPA) besides being member of many other renowned international professional institutions.

Mr. Yousaf possesses over three decades of diversified post qualification experience as a Chartered Accountant in various specialized fields, having served on various leadership positions with key governmental, public and corporate entities (including two decades at a Big 4 professional accounting firm as Partner in Pakistan) which covers corporate compliance and regulations, governance and oversight, accounting and auditing standards setting, assurance and audits, corporate finance and restructuring, consulting and financial advisory services, etc.

In recent years, the key areas of his focus are the high-end policies formulation and implementation, strategic directions, oversight of regulations and business operations, governance initiatives and organizational reforms and business decisions making, etc. at some of the most important corporate sector entities of the country. Mr. Yousaf has a unique and versatile exposure of having served Pakistan’s top regulators including State Bank of Pakistan (Central Bank of the country) and Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) as a board member and chairman of audit and oversight committees respectively besides being President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP)

Mr. Yousaf has the honor of serving the council of ICAP for eight years (2009-17) in various leadership positions including being its President for 2015-16 term and represented Pakistan on various prestigious international forums including International Federation of Accountants (IFAC), International Accounting Standard Board (IASB), Asian Oceana Standards Setters Group (AOSSG), CA Worldwide (CAW) and South Asian Federation of Accountants for many years on different meetings and conferences.

Currently he is serving as a Board Member of some leading corporate entities of the country including SAMBA Bank Limited, Kot Addu Power Company Limited, Pakistan Security Printing Corporation and Security Papers Limited where he is also the Chairman of various important committees of the respective boards.

In recognition of his credentials, Yousaf is appointed by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions (AAOIFI), as a member of its very prestigious forum namely Public Interest Monitoring Consultative Committee (PIMCC) to represent Pakistan. The seven-member PIMCC has an oversight on the functioning of the AAOIFI Accounting Board (AAB) and AAOIFI Governance and Ethics Boards (AGEB) to ensure that public interest is duly served.

Mr. Javed Kureishi is a career banker having spent more than 34 years with Citibank N.A. both in Pakistan and abroad (Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe, and Asia. During his professional career at Citibank, he held a number of senior positions across Corporate Banking, Country Risk, and Regional Management that included Public Sector Group Head, Asia Pacific, Global Subsidiaries Group Head, Asia Pacific (Singapore), Chief Operating Officer, Middle East (ME), Corporate Bank Head, Middle East (ME), Chief Executive Officer, Czech Republic, Institutional Bank Head, Egypt, Head of Risk Management Africa, South Africa, and Corporate Bank Head, Pakistan.

Mr. Javed is currently associated with International Finance Corporation (“IFC”) since Nov 2019 as a Consultant responsible for business development across the country which also includes strengthening senior strategic relationships with key stakeholders in the private sector and identifying large, bankable transactions that fit IFC parameters including debt, equity across several industries and involves working closely with local and regional Industry teams to the in Pakistan.

Mr. Javed holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hon), and a degree in Economics from the University of Sussex (United Kingdom).

Zeeba Ansar possesses over 27 years of diverse experience in the Corporate & Banking sectors that includes aggressive business development, client coverage, marketing of corporate products, setting up of early warning systems and strategizing/structuring facilities for Non-Performing Loans and instituting strong and diligent recovery drives.

Ms. Zeeba was with NIB Bank Limited, where she served as Group Head, Corporate & Investment Banking Group for two years and prior to that she worked in United Bank Limited for more than nine years where her last role was as Regional Corporate Head. She was also associated with Faysal Bank Limited for about five years where she progressed to the position of Corporate Head (Southern Region) and before that, she was with Deutsche Bank Limited, where she worked for almost eight years. She started her career from Shell Pakistan Limited, where she worked for over 4 years in their Planning department. She holds an MBA Degree from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi.

Currently, Ms. Zeeba is also on the Boards of Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited and Cherat Cement Company Limited, holding the position as Independent Director.