Acting governor of the State Bank of Pakistan Ashraf Mohammed Wathra has been appointed as the governor of the central bank. He will be the fifth governor. Wathra takes over from Yaseen Anwar, who resigned for ‘personal reasons’ earlier this year. The past three governors have all stood down before the end of their terms, though the departure of Anwar’s predecessors – Shahid Kardar and Syed Salim Raza – followed political disputes. Wathra is a relatively new face at the central bank. He was appointed as deputy governor with responsibility for the ‘banking cluster’ of the central bank’s operations. This included banking regulation, inspection and consumer protection. He was made acting governor at the end of January following Anwar’s departure. He will have a three-year term. Before joining the State Bank of Pakistan, Wathra accumulated a great deal of experience in the private sector. His previous role was as chief of the National Bank of Pakistan’s credit management group.
