Board of Directors

Sir Mohammed Anwar Pervez, OBE HPk is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of United Bank Limited since December 2013. He is also the Chairman of Bestway Group UK & its subsidiaries, which include Batleys Limited and Bestway Cement. He is also Chairman of Bestway Northern Limited in UK.

Sir Anwar began his career in food business in 1963 when he opened a mini supermarket in London. He ventured into the wholesale business in 1976 and has been responsible for growing Bestway Group into the seventh largest family business in the UK.

Today, it is the 2nd largest wholesaler in the UK, the 2nd largest cement producer in Pakistan and the 2nd largest private bank in Pakistan. The Group provides employment to over 22,500 globally.

Sir Anwar was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1992 and was conferred the title of Knight’s Bachelor in 1999 by Her Majesty the Queen for his services to the food industry and various charitable causes in the UK. In 2000 he was awarded “Hilal-e-Pakistan”.

In 2005, Sir Mohammad Anwar Pervez was voted winner of the prestigious “Grocer Cup for Outstanding Business Achievement” by the Institute of Grocery Distribution, UK. In 2006 he received “Sitara-e-Essar” by the President of Pakistan. The same year he was chosen as the “Master Entrepreneur – UK” at the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 Awards.

Lord Zameer Mohammed Choudrey CBE SI Pk has been a Director of United Bank Limited since February 2002. He is Chairman of the Board Risk & Compliance Committee (BRCC) and a Member of the Board Nomination Committee (BNC).

Lord Choudrey is also the Chief Executive of Bestway Group, which is the 7^th largest family business in UK with annual turnover of over £3.4 billion. The Group consists of the UK’s largest independent wholesale, the UK’s 3^rd largest retail pharmacy, Pakistan’s largest cement producer and Pakistan’s 2^nd largest private bank.

Lord Choudrey also holds directorships at Bestway Cement Limited, Bestway Wholesale and Well Pharmacy.

Lord Choudrey is a trustee of Bestway Foundation UK and Chairman of Bestway Foundation Pakistan. He is also a trustee of Crimestoppers. Lord Choudrey is the Chairman of the UK Advisory Council of British Asian Trust, one of HRH Prince of Wales’ charities. He is also the Chairman of Conservative Friends of Pakistan.

In September 2019, he was nominated for a life peerage and was created Baron Choudrey of Hampstead in October in recognition of his contribution to Britain’s domestic and foreign trade and his philanthropic work in the UK and abroad. He formally joined the House of Lords in November 2019.

In March 2018, the President of Pakistan awarded him the Sitara-e-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) in recognition of his unparalleled contribution in advancing Pakistan through his services and the wide array of philanthropic work.

In December 2015, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) by Her Majesty the Queen for his services to the UK wholesale industry and various charitable causes in the UK and abroad.

In December 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by University of Kent, his alma mater, in recognition of his philanthropic services to the community.

He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accounts of England & Wales. 

Mr. Haider Zameer Choudrey has been a Director of United Bank Limited since March 2014. He is a Member of the Board Audit Committee (BAC) and the Board IT Committee (BITC).

Haider is Finance Director of Bestway Group, which is the UK’s 7th largest family business with an annual turnover of over £3.4 billion. He has responsibility for provided financial and strategic oversight to all Group subsidiaries in the UK and Pakistan. Bestway Group consists of the UK’s largest independent wholesaler, the UK’s 3rd largest retail pharmacy, Pakistan’s largest cement manufacturer and Pakistan’s 2nd largest private bank.

Haider has extensive experience in finance, strategy, digital, tax and transactional services. He has played an instrumental role in developing UBL’s Information Technology & Digital Offering and establishing international best practice internal governance procedures in both UBL and Bestway Cement. In the UK Haider has been the driving force behind the Group’s diversification into retail pharmacy business through the acquisition of Well Pharmacy and expansion of the Group’s Wholesale business.

Haider also holds directorships at Bestway Group Limited, Bestway Cement Limited and Well Pharmacy. He is also a certified Director from the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance.

Haider is actively involved in the charitable work of the Bestway Foundation in the UK and Pakistan and is part of the management team that is supervising the construction of two state of the art schools in Chakwal, Punjab.

Haider is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and previously trained with KPMG LLP.

Haider was schooled at Eton and holds a Master’s in Economics from Gonville & Caius College, University of Cambridge

Mr. Rizwan graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, USA in 1990 with a BSc in Business Management.

He then trained with a leading UK firm of Chartered Accountant and qualified in August 1995. Rizwan is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales.

He joined Bestway as a Financial Accountant in 1995 and was elected to the Board of Directors in January 2000 as Group Business Development Director. He was responsible for developing the Group’s fascia and delivered business. Rizwan was instrumental in creating the “Best-One” symbol group and Bestway Direct, the Group’s delivered wholesale operation. Best-One now boasts over 1,000 stores throughout the UK and Bestway Direct continues to exhibit double digit growth year on year.

In 2006, Rizwan was appointed Group Operations Director where he led and managed the integration of Bestway and Batleys wholesale operations which created the UK’s largest independent wholesale group.

In 2012, Rizwan was appointed the Group Marketing & PR Director.

Rizwan has served as Governor of John Kelly Schools in North West London playing a leading role in the school’s attainment of ‘academy’ status and establishing the school as a centre of excellence under its new name of The Crest Academy.

Rizwan is a Trustee of Bestway Foundation UK.

Mr. Muhammad Jawaid Iqbal is a member of the Board of Directors of United Bank Limited since December 14, 2022. He is the Chairman of Board Risk & Compliance Committee (BRCC) and member of Board Human Resource & Compensation Committee (HRCC).

He is founder of Providus Capital (Private) Limited—an investment firm established in 2017. Providus Capital primarily invests into public equity markets of Pakistan.

Mr. Iqbal has over two decades of banking experience and has worked with Emirates Bank International PJSC Pakistan, National Bank of Pakistan and Allied Bank Limited at senior managerial positions.

Mr. Iqbal did his Master in Business Administration from Bahauddin Zakariya University, Pakistan; Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) from CFA Institute, USA; and Advanced Management Program from Harvard Business School, USA.

Mr. Amar Zafar Khan is a Chartered Accountant, with over 30 years multi-functional experience at premium international financial institutions, covering general management, directing turnarounds and developing new ventures/ businesses in commercial banking, investment banking, domestic and cross-border corporate finance and securities trading. He has exposure to markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and has knowledge and experience of a wide spectrum of financing solutions.

Mr. Amar did his M.B.A. (Major in Marketing) from Cranfield School of Management, Bedford, UK. He is Fellow, Institute of Chartered Accountants, England & Wales, UK.

Mr. Zafar was Chairman and CEO of United Bank Limited (UBL) from the year 2000 to 2004. At the government’s invitation, he took the helm of this nationalized institution, in order to accelerate the pace of commercialization and achieve privatization. The entire Bank was overhauled along contemporary banking lines. Operations were completely revamped; critical monitoring functions, risk management, IT and communications, were upgraded; investment banking was introduced and the business development culture was reinvigorated. A sense of commercial urgency was encouraged at all levels. This period covered major staff reduction, significant branch rationalisation, resolution of decades-old government-related issues, both credit and fiscal, and successful solicitation of government assistance for non-performing assets. 1450 branches and 16,000 staff trimmed to 1100 branches and 10,000 staff while tripling balance sheet footings. Within the first year, the organisation had turned the corner in terms of profitability. Mid way the Bank was successfully privatised to multinational owners, for a price which substantially recouped equity injections by the government. Mr. Zafar was invited by the new owners to continue as CEO in order to build on the momentum achieved and assist the new Board to settle in. Further upgrading of management, staff and network occurred and the Bank built capacity for the launch of its consumer assets activity, and reported record profits for the first full year after privatization.

Mr. Amar was also appointed as Advisor and Director of UBL in 1996 by State Bank of Pakistan where he played a pivotal role in the multi-dimensional restructuring of the bank.

In 2009, Mr. Amar relocated to Malaysia on a sabbatical. Managed a private portfolio of Financial investments, Eurobonds and equities. Studied Psychology and practiced Life Coaching. He came back to Pakistan in 2012.

Since 2012, Mr. Amar is on the Boards of Directors of 3 NGOs in Pakistan, operating in health care, and education. During this period, he served for 18 months as an Interim CEO, Greenstar Social Marketing, Pakistan’s largest NGO with focus on family planning, to spearhead its restructuring in order to position it for greater momentum. He has since stepped down from Greenstar.

Ms. Shazia Syed has been a Member of the Board of Directors of United Bank Limited since November 10, 2020. She is the Chairperson of Board Audit Committee (BAC) and member of Board Risk & Compliance Committee (BRCC).

Ms. Shazia Syed is an Executive Vice President at Unilever Plc., the Anglo-Dutch giant of the Fast Moving Consumer Goods sector. She is responsible for Unilever’s global tea business based out of Rotterdam, The Netherlands.

Prior to becoming the global head of tea business, she was on the Board of Unilever Pakistan Limited as Chairperson & CEO as well as on the Board of Unilever Pakistan Foods Limited as CEO. She has a career spanning across 30 years in the FMCG sector and has worked in leadership roles in South East Asia, South Asia and Europe.

She was the erstwhile President of the Overseas Investor’s Chamber of Commerce & Industry and has also served as Director for the Pakistan Business Council. In addition, Shazia also contributed her time on the Advisory Council at the British Asian Trust, Advisory Board of Change-Pakistan and as a Trustee at the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Foundation.

Shazia is an active advocate for Diversity & Inclusion at the workplace, with a vision to enable and facilitate working women from all backgrounds across all sectors.

She is a Certified Director from the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG).

Mr. Tariq Rashid has more than 20 years’ experience in Management & Information Technology at senior level. He spearheaded the setup of IT infrastructure of mobile operator (Mobilink now Jazz) since inception. He led IT organization of Mobilink through different phases of Telecom industry’s life cycle i.e. infancy, growth and consolidation. He served as VP & Chief Strategy Officer for more than 5 years. He also served as a Director of Information Technology at HQ of Telecommunication company in Egypt. He successfully led few large business/Technology transformation initiatives during his career.

He served as a Director on the board of Mobilink Microfinance Bank and headed the risk committee. He served as Director on the Board of Mobile Number Portability Database (Guarantee) Limited. He also served as President on the Board of International School of Islamabad (ISOI) for more than 4 years.

He is a Chairman of the Board IT Committee of the UBL.

He holds an engineering degree from University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore and post graduate certificate in Computers from National Academy of Higher Education. He attended different management programs abroad and locally from institutes like IMD, INSEAD, MIT and LUMS.

Mr. Shazad Dada is the President & CEO and member of the Board of Directors of United Bank Limited (“UBL”).

Mr. Shazad is a graduate with honors from University of Pennsylvania with Bachelors of Science and Bachelors of Arts degrees and also has an MBA from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania. He is a seasoned banker and a prominent capital markets professional, with around 30 years of diverse experience with renowned financial institutions in the United States and Pakistan. He has been at the helm of several landmark transactions executed on behalf of Government of Pakistan, Ministry of Finance and domestic and international corporate clients.

Before joining UBL as President & CEO, Mr. Shazad was the Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors of Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Ltd (“SCBPL”) and Africa & Middle East Regional Management Team. Shazad demonstrated exemplary leadership for almost six years at SCBPL and under his leadership, he enabled the business to grow strongly and soundly while continuously strengthening the controls environment. SCBPL attained the 3rd position in terms of profitability in 2019 within the Banking sector and record profits for the franchise since incorporation. During his time, by remaining completely focused on its clients, SCBPL increased its total assets, net loans and deposits by approximately 100% while ensuring operational efficiencies and digital agendas.

Prior to joining Standard Chartered, he was the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Barclays Pakistan. Shazad has also worked at the Deutsche Bank Securities Inc in New York for over 15 years in various capacities, last as the Managing Director, Head of TMT Americas, in the Mergers, Acquisitions and Corporate Advisory Group, before moving back to Pakistan as the Managing Director for Deutsche Bank AG Pakistan.

Mr. Shazad is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Developments in Literacy (“DIL”) Pakistan and Council Member of the Institute of Bankers Pakistan. He has also held various non-executive level positions in the past including President of Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry (“OICCI”), which is the largest and oldest chamber operating in Pakistan, Chairman of Pakistan Mercantile Exchange and Chairman Pakistan Banks Association where he played a key role in shaping the overall banking industry in Pakistan to its current prominence. Furthermore, Shazad has also served as an Independent Director of the Pakistan Stock Exchange (“PSX”). He has been member of the Board of Directors of Sui Southern Gas Company Limited and the British Business Centre, Pakistan and member Board of Governors of British Overseas School.

Mr. Shazad is also associated with various reputed charitable organizations. His contributions on the sustainability front are immense especially for promoting education and health amongst the least privileged and advancing diversity and inclusion within the corporate world. In 2019, he was aptly named #6 on the FT’s HERoes Women Role Model Lists of female advocates globally - first from Pakistan.

He is an avid golfer with a keen interest in a number of other sports including tennis and chess.