Kabir Ahmed Sidhu | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The government has appointed Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu as the new chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), according to a notification issued by the Finance Division on Friday. Dr Sidhu is currently serving as the chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP), a position he assumed in August 2023. Under his leadership, the CCP witnessed significant institutional turnarounds in its history. Within two years, the CCP reduced its court case backlog by over 70 per cent, with 434 cases decided out of 567 pending matters, helping restore the regulator’s credibility and enforcement capacity. During Dr Sidhu’s tenure, the CCP recovered approximately Rs1.36 billion in penalties. In contrast, its total recoveries in the last 20 years were merely Rs20o million. The regulator also imposed over Rs2bn in fresh penalties through new enforcement actions. As CCP head, Dr Sidhu launched a renewed crackdown on cartels and market abuse, initiating major investigations and actions ag...