Staff Reporter, Daily Dawn, Dawn TV, OKTV Report
Islamabad: The federal government has approved the appointment of Dr. Kabir Ahmed Sidhu as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The Ministry of Finance has issued a notification appointing Dr. Kabir Ahmed Sidhu as the chairman of the SECP.
According to the report, the government had earlier appointed Dr. Kabir Ahmed Sidhu as commissioner in the SECP through a separate notification. Dr. Kabir Ahmed Sidhu currently serves as the Chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan.
In the Competition Commission, he brought significant reforms to the institution and restored its comprehensive enforcement capacity. Dr. Sidhu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law, LLM in Banking, Insurance and International Business Law, and a PhD from the University of Manchester.
He also holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Civil Litigation from the Manchester Law Society and has certifications in Mortgage and Financial Advice from the London Institute of Banking and Finance.
His doctoral research focused on investor protection and the regulatory frameworks of stock exchanges in the UK, the US, and Shariah-compliant stock exchanges. With over two decades of professional experience, Dr. Sidhu has worked with insurance companies, law firms, and financial institutions in the UK, and with various government ministries in Pakistan.
Before serving as Chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan, he served as a Senior Legal Consultant in the Ministry of Law.
He has also served as a Senior Legal Consultant in the Privatization Commission. In addition, he has been associated with leading legal experts in universities in the UK as a research associate.
When Dr. Sidhu was appointed as the Chairman of the Competition Commission in August 2023, the institution had a large backlog of cases pending in the courts for a long time. Within two years at the Competition Commission, he reduced the backlog of pending cases by more than 70%, where 434 out of 567 cases were decided through active prosecution in the courts.
During Dr. Sidhu’s tenure, the Competition Commission recovered fines of about Rs. 1.36 billion, which is more than the total recoveries in the last sixteen years. In addition, he took new enforcement actions and imposed fresh fines of over Rs. 1 billion on cartels and misleading marketing. Dr. Sidhu took vigorous action against cartels and market corruption in various sectors.
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