Spokesman 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) with immediate effect. The decision was notified by the Finance Division.
Dr Sidhu currently serving as Chairman Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), where he led one of the most significant institutional turnarounds in the Commission’s history. When he took office in August 2023, the CCP was facing long-standing enforcement bottlenecks and a large backlog of litigation and enquiries.
Within two years, the Commission reduced its court case backlog by over 70 percent, with 434 cases decided out of 567 pending matters. This progress helped restore the regulator’s credibility and enforcement capacity. It developed precedent and jurisprudence of the CCP.
Dr Sidhu holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law, an LLM in Banking, Insurance and International Business Law, and a PhD from the University of Manchester. He also earned a postgraduate diploma in Civil Litigation from the Manchester Law Society and certifications in mortgage and financial advice from the London Institute of Banking and Finance. His doctoral research focused on the investor protection and regulation of stock exchanges in UK, US and Shariah Compliant stock exchanges.
With over 20 years of professional experience, Dr Sidhu has worked with insurance companies, law firms, and financial institutions in the UK, as well as government ministries in Pakistan. Prior to joining CCP, he served as a Senior Legal Consultant at the Ministry of Law. He has worked in privatisation Commission as a Senior Legal Consultant. He was a research associate with leading academics in UK universities.
During Dr Sidhu’s tenure at the CCP recovered approximately PKR 1.36 billion in penalties. In contrast, the Commission’s total recoveries in the last 20 years was merely 20 crore. The regulator also imposed over PKR 2 billion in fresh penalties through new enforcement actions.
His tenure saw a renewed crackdown on cartels and market abuse. Major investigations and actions were initiated against cartels in poultry, sugar, edible oil, telecom, and medical services. Several of these actions were upheld by the Supreme Court and the Competition Appellate Tribunal, providing strong judicial validation to CCP’s enforcement work.
Dr Sidhu also placed strong emphasis on consumer protection and deceptive marketing enforcement. The CCP imposed significant penalties on companies operating in real estate, FMCG, education, pharmaceuticals, and automobiles. These included Kingdom Valley, Friesland Campina, Unilever, Engro, Al-Ghazi Tractors, Hyundai Nishat, British Lyceum, and 3N Lifemed, sending a clear signal against misleading business practices.
A major institutional reform during his tenure was the launch of the Market Intelligence Unit (MIU), CCP’s first AI-powered surveillance arm. This initiative marked a shift toward data-driven, proactive detection.
On the market facilitation front, the CCP processed 139 mergers across 34 sectors. High-profile transactions included the PTCL–Telenor merger, Shell Pakistan’s sale to Wafi Energy, and several deals in financial services, energy, and logistics. The PTCL–Telenor merger order, in particular, was widely noted by stakeholders for balancing investment facilitation with competition safeguards.
CCP also set up centre of excellence in competition law. Its purpose was to carry out competition assessment studies to modernise legal and regulatory framework in every sector of the economy.
