PM Shehbaz meets executives of global financial institutions in Britain
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif held a series of meetings with senior executives from global financial institutions including Barclays, J.P. Morgan, Citi, BlackRock and Rothschild & Co during his visit to Britain on Tuesday.
PM Shehbaz welcomed Barclays’ interest in Pakistan during a meeting with Mohammad Kamal Syed, Head of Private Bank and Wealth Management UK, and briefed him on the government’s macroeconomic stabilisation measures, encouraging the bank to explore opportunities in Pakistan’s financial sector.
In a meeting with a delegation led by Matthieu Wiltz, Co-CEO for EMEA at J.P. Morgan, he discussed expanding cooperation in capital markets, trade finance and investment banking and invited the firm to expand its presence in Pakistan. The delegation reaffirmed its interest in sovereign debt capital markets and corporate banking opportunities.
PM Shehbaz also met senior Citi officials led by David Livingstone, Chief Client Officer, and encouraged the bank to expand its corporate and institutional banking services in Pakistan.
During a meeting with a BlackRock delegation comprising Gordon Fraser and Sam Vecht, Co-Heads of Emerging Markets and Frontiers, and Emily Fletcher, Portfolio Manager and Research Analyst, Sharif invited increased allocations to Pakistani equities and fixed income under the firm’s frontier markets strategy. Both sides stressed the importance of sustained policy consistency in building investor confidence.
In a meeting with Rothschild & Co, represented by Lord Mark Sedwill, Chair of Geostrategic Advisory, and Majid Ishaq, Head of UK Investment Banking, discussions focused on Pakistan’s geo-economic priorities and potential advisory cooperation on capital markets and investment strategy.
The visiting executives expressed confidence in Pakistan’s economic reform momentum and reaffirmed their institutions’ commitment to deepening engagement with the country’s financial sector, according to a government statement.
Finance Minister Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Privatisation and Chairman of the Privatisation Commission Muhammad Ali also attended the meetings.