From JP Morgan to Zero pay: Meet Muhammad Aurangazeb, the man trying to pull Pakistan out of its present mess
Pakistan’s new finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has taken charge at a time when Pakistan’s economy is seeing the most turbulent period in its history.
Aurangazeb was one of the highest paid corporate leaders in Pakistan before joining the government. Now, in line with other cabinet members, he’s not drawing a salary. He also renounced his Dutch citizenship to become eligible for the post.
The International Monetary has classified its debt as only borderline sustainable, it has Asia’s fastest inflation, anemic growth, and one of the lowest tax-collection rates in the world.
As a prominent banker and JPMorgan Chase & Co. alumnus, Aurangzeb has his task cut out.
Hailing from a prominent family in Lahore — his father was Pakistan’s attorney general — Aurangzeb, 59, went to the nation’s elite Aitchison College then studied at Wharton on a scholarship before working at Citigroup Inc. in New York early in his career.
He returned to Pakistan to work at a unit of ABN Amro Bank NV, later shifting to the bank’s headquarters in Amsterdam. In 2018, he again accepted a move back to his home country when he left JPMorgan in Singapore to take over as chief executive officer of Pakistan’s largest lender, Habib Bank Ltd., just after it had been fined $225 million and forced to end its US operations for weak anti-money-laundering controls and sanctions compliance.
At the time, his return to Pakistan surprised those he worked with, since he was seen to be leaving the comfort of Singapore and a cushy role at JPMorgan for a post that few considered a dream job, a former colleague told Bloomberg.
Aurangzeb would often speak about his love for the country of his birth and the elevation to finance minister is seen as evidence of his commitment to the nation, the person said, asking not to be named discussing personal decisions.
Married with two children, Aurangzeb — also known as Auri — was a member of the prime minister’s economic advisory council in 2022 during Sharif’s previous term, a role that gave him an inside view of the premier’s management style.
He was tapped for the finance post a few weeks before the election, flying from his base in the commercial capital Karachi to meet with Sharif multiple times before accepting the offer.
“It’s a huge privilege,” he said. “But then it comes with a set of expectations.”
His ministry sits close to the Margalla hills that bound the capital to the north, a 20 minute walk from the prime minister’s office, with the national assembly midway between the two seats of government power.