Tuesday, December 16, 2025 | 05:07 AM ISTहिंदी में पढें
Business Standard
Notification Icon
userprofile IconSearch

The extraordinary rise of Pakistan's only female banking CEO Sima Kamil

Kamil's rise through the ranks of Pakistan's intensely male-dominated banking industry in the conservative Islamic republic is nothing short of extraordinary

sima kamil
premium

Sima Kamil

Bloomberg
Sima Kamil is a reluctant role model in Pakistan.

The 61-year-old chief executive officer walks into a 21st-floor meeting room at United Bank Ltd.’s headquarters in Karachi and right away says she doesn’t want to be viewed as a “token” woman and would prefer to discuss the bank’s strategy. Yet she recognizes that as the only woman heading a private sector lender in Pakistan -- and one of the very few women leading companies in the country -- she has a responsibility that goes beyond her job.

“It’s a privilege and a burden at the same time,” she says in an interview