Muhammad Ali Farid Khwaja has been appointed as the commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) by the government for a period of three years, according to a notification issued by the Finance Division today.

Khwaja’s appointment was conferred under Sections five and seven of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan Act, 1997 (XLII of 1997) and will take place with immediate effect.

The remuneration and allowance will be determined under the relevant provisions of the same act, according to the notice.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Khwaja is currently the CEO of Critical Metals PLC and previously served as chairman of KTrade for seven years, until October 2025. He is an alumnus of Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, where he earned an MSc in Financial Economics, and Lahore University of Management Sciences, where he completed an MSc in Economics and BSc degrees in Computer Science and Economics.

Khwaja’s appointment comes after 27 candidates were interviewed for the appointment of three commissioners in December of last year.

Earlier this month, the government appointed Dr Kabir Ahmed Sidhu as the new chairman of the SECP following a series of interviews