Qamar Saleem

QAMAR SALEEM heads SME Finance Forum, managed by IFC at World Bank Group, working to expand access to financial services for small and medium businesses globally. Prior to this role, Qamar Saleem was heading IFC’s Financial Institutions Group Advisory Services business for Asia and Pacific providing integrated client solutions across SME, Gender, Climate, Digital, Housing, Trade, Capital Markets, Agri and Supply Chain Finance. Qamar has been with IFC since 2012 and served in his previous roles as global technical lead for SME and Supply Chain Finance.

Qamar has overall 30+ years of global financial services experience having supported clients across 80+ countries internationally, managing large business lines while leading multi-cultural and cross-functional teams. He is a recognized thought leader, featured speaker, and an industry mentor with several publications and thought pieces to his credit. Prior to IFC, for a period of two decades, Qamar was associated in leadership roles with international organizations like HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank, Deutsche Bank as well as large regional banks in MENA while serving in several emerging markets where he also led SME Banking, Transaction Banking, and Commercial Banking Divisions.