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. Daniel M. Howlett is a highly experienced and dynamic senior front-line international banker. He has extensive experience of dealing with Board level responsibilities across international commercial and corporate banking, including transaction banking, structured and capital financing, private equity, and real estate. He has extensive c-suite access, both in the UK and internationally.

He has a proven track record of growth in both financial and market share terms and as an innovator and change agent in sectoral, coverage and product capabilities.

As of today, he is an Independent Governor of the University of Plymouth, a NonExecutive Director of Falcon Group and a consultant advisor to the Business Growth Fund in the UK.

Prior to this, he had a 32 years’ executive career with HSBC, culminating in his role as Head of Commercial Banking for the Middle East North Africa and Turkey and, prior to that, the Head of HSBC’s Corporate Bank in the UK.

Daniel is a graduate from the University of Exeter.

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. Muhammad Irfan A. Sheikh is a Non-Executive Director of United Bank Limited since July 2023. He is also a Member of the Board IT Committee (BITC) and the Board Risk & Compliance Committee (BRCC).

Mr. Sheikh is the Managing Director for Bestway Cement Limited, a company listed on PSX and Pakistan’s largest cement producer, and a number of other Bestway Group companies in Pakistan. Prior to assuming the role of the Managing Director, he headed the Finance, Information Technology, Legal, Marketing and Communication functions at Bestway Cement Limited. After graduating from the prestigious Hailey College of Commerce, University of the Punjab, Lahore; he proceeded to the U.K. where he studied accountancy from Thames Valley University and the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. Mr. Sheikh trained with a Top-10 Accountancy and Business Advisory firm in the U.K. before he joined the Bestway Group in 1996. He is also a certified Director from the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance. He has been instrumental in Bestway Cement Limited’s rise to the top and continues to play a vital role in Bestway Group’s various Pakistani companies’ growth and in maintaining the highest standards of discipline in all aspects of their business.

Mr. Sheikh is an ardent supporter of many social causes relating to education, health, women empowerment and arts & culture in Pakistan. He is a Trustee of Bestway Foundation, Pakistan and is also on the Board of Governors of the Foundations various projects.

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.