ISLAMABAD, Dec 3: On the retirement of Dr Ishrat Hussain, the government has appointed for the first time a woman, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, as governor of the State Bank of Pakistan for a three-year term, according to an official statement issued here on Saturday.

Dr Shamshad will become the 14th governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and the first woman to be named to the post.

She brings with her extensive experience in policy-making, regulatory and legal issues of the banking sector. She has been involved in the restructuring process of banks in East Asian economies and has interfaced regularly with the Bank of International Settlement on Basel Standards.

Dr Shamshad worked with the World Bank for 10 years before joining the Asian Development Bank in 1990, where she was holding the top position, overseeing the bank’s operations in a number of countries. She is the ADB’s expert on South East Asian economies.

The new State Bank governor, a well-known figure in the international banking circles, is a frequent speaker in conferences/seminars around the world, on subjects covering regulatory, supervisory and enforcement mechanisms in the banking and financial sectors.

Dr Shamshad, who hails from rural Sindh, possesses an M.S. in economics from Quaid-i- Azam University, Islamabad, an M.A. in development economics from the University of Sussex in the UK and a Ph D from the UK’s Paisley College of Technology.