Shaista Bano Gilani

After having worked for over 21 years with two vital economic regulators of Pakistan, i.e., the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan and Competition Commission of Pakistan, in pivotal positions, I am currently a Consultant to some local, foreign, and multinational companies in Pakistan, and my expertise includes administration of I have over Twenty (20) years of varied experience in matters of corporate law & regulations, competition law, economic policy, enforcement, advocacy, and research. Corporate law & regulations, competition law, monetary policy, advocacy, research, investment facilitation through mergers/acquisitions/joint ventures, licensing, regulatory compliances, corporate governance, and financing issues. As an Independent Director on the Board of Directors of Sindh Bank Ltd, I am the Chairperson of the Board's HR Committee and a member of the Board's Audit Committee and Risk Management Committee. These positions provide me exposure to and keep me abreast of all the latest developments in the financial sector of Pakistan. I am also a consultant with UNICEF Pakistan on tax reforms for Menstrual Health and Hygiene Products- an initiative to end period poverty in Pakistan besides teaching entrepreneurship in NUST. My qualification includes an MA in Economics for Competition Law from Kings College London, an MBA from Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, and a BSC in Mathematics and Statistics from the Punjab. I am also an affiliate of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) since September 2006 and a Certified Director duly registered with the Pakistan Institute of Corporate Governance (PICG). I started my professional career in 2001 at the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), where I worked six years as the Deputy Registrar of Companies. Apart from registering and regulating local companies, I was explicitly designated as a focal person to facilitate foreign investors wanting to write businesses and invest in Pakistan. After that, I joined the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) in 2007 as a Joint Director in the Advocacy and Research Department. I remained instrumental in implementing the World Bank's program for awareness and advocacy about newly introduced competition laws in Pakistan. Later, I moved to the enforcement division and served as Director General (Cartels and trade Abuse) till March 2019. As head of the enforcement department, I initiated, administered, and led vital investigations to enforce the Commission's mandate to ensure a level playing field in the market, improve economic efficiency, and protect consumers from anti-competitive practices. I was appointed as the Member of CCP in April 2019 following a stringent competitive process and remained the Acting Chairperson of CCP from April – July 2020. I also served as a nominated member of the complaints redressal committee of the Audit Oversight Board Pakistan. I am a voluntary Executive Member of the UGOOD, a non-governmental organization working to uplift women and other vulnerable segments of society. As Member CCP, I have adjudicated various important cases of cartelization, abuse of dominant position, mergers, acquisitions, and joint ventures, and deceptive marketing practices and authored/co-authored landmark judgments in sugar, telecom, e-commerce, housing societies, and various other sectors and these judgments are reported in the PLD as well. As Acting Chairperson, I was instrumental in introducing an online hearings system in the Commission to facilitate the disposal of cases and save the cost of litigation/adjudication for the Commission and the parties involved. To facilitate local and foreign investors, for the first time in Pakistan, I introduced online applications for clearance of mergers/acquisitions/ joint ventures without requiring any personal visitation by the parties. I conducted various online training sessions for capacity building of lawyers and company representatives on the online filing systems. Later on, a similar approach was also introduced for filing exemption applications. A pilot project of a web-based application was launched to combat anti-competitive activities in public procurement. Through this web application, it was possible to generate red flags to identify bid-rigging cases. I have represented CCP in various high-level committees, including the following: · Competition Consultative Group- A focus group at CCP comprising top-level representatives of all sector regulators, including SBP and CAA, economic ministries, chambers of commerce, and consumer associations. Quarterly meetings discuss and strategize key sectorial policies, updates, and general economic issues. · National price monitoring committee- A committee Chaired by the Federal Minister of Finance with the participation of the Minister of Industries, Commerce, and Food Security along with Federal Secretaries, all provincial Chief Secretaries, FBR Chairman, FBS Chairman, CCP and DC Islamabad. Meetings are held regularly, most of the time fortnightly, to review inflation, key economic indicators, and supply/demand of essential commodities. · Hajj Policy Formulation Committee- A committee comprising the Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Law, the Attorney General of Pakistan, CCP, and the Foreign Office. The committee is constituted by the Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan to draft the annual hajj policy. · Construction sector reforms committer- A committee constituted at the Ministry of Planning for construction sector reforms. · Sugar sector reforms committee- a committee at the Ministry of Industries constituted by the federal cabinet. · Audit oversight board grievance committee to conduct hearings on the complaints filed on the decisions of the Audit Oversight Board. · Focus group on e-commerce policy to draft e-commerce policy. · Inter-ministerial committee on the auto sector to resolve issues of the auto sector · Procurement committee of BISP as independent observer appointed by BISP to ensure transparency in the procurement process. · Ease of doing business- one window initiative at Board of Investment- represented CCP · Supervised Prime Minister Delivery Unit (PMDU) reports of CCP · Focal person of CCP for coordination under MoUs with other government bodies such as SECP, SBP, PTA, and Board of Investment. · Conducted public hearings for sectorial policy analysis in the auto sector, sugar sector, public procurement in the electricity market, and tobacco industry.