Farrukh H. Sabzwari has spent more than 25 years in the Investment banking business in senior management positions both locally and abroad. He has previously served as CEO and MD of KASB Securities (local partner of BoA Merrill Lynch); BMA Capital and Country Head for CLSA Emerging Markets in Pakistan. His time abroad includes stints at CLSA Emerging Markets in NY USA, where he was VP sub-continent sales and at Credit Suisse in Indonesia and Singapore – where he spent seven years looking at both APAC and Frontier Markets as Director Equities sales. He has also served as Chairman (Dec 18 – Aug 19) and Commissioner of SECP (Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan) from 2018 to 2021, a job he took up on his return to Pakistan.
Some key initiatives during his three year term at SECP included the introduction of a comprehensive KYC/AML reporting mechanism for regulated entities in line with FATF recommendations, the launch of ETFs in Pakistan, the revamp of REITs regulations that has helped unleash a renewed wave of interest in the sector, the setting up of Emlaak – a one-stop shop for Mutual Fund Investments in the country and the introduction of Stewardship guidelines for institutional investors to encourage improved capital allocation through effective implementation of the corporate governance framework.
He is a proposed Director on the board of Hugobank – a Getz Group entity that he has been associated with since March 2022 – one of the five Digital Banking consortiums that were awarded banking licences by the SBP in Jan 2023. He is also a co-opted member of the Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC) set up in Nov 2023. He has capital market certifications from various jurisdictions including Singapore, Indonesia and NY and is an alumni of the IBA in Karachi, where he graduated with an MBA in Dec 1992. To enhance his knowledge and understanding of the Fintech space, he undertook a three month Fintech course in Innovation and Transformation in Financial Services from the NUS in Singapore in June 2022.