KARACHI - The World Bank (WB) has appointed Mahnaz Malik, a Pakistan-origin British national, as a Sanctions Board Member of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). She is a Barrister and Arbitrator at Twenty Essex, specializing in representing governments and corporations in investment and commercial disputes.
Mahnaz is also a Fellow and Trustee of Hughes Hall College at the University of Cambridge. The newly appointed IFC board member has over 23 years of experience advising governments, corporations, and international organizations on complex cross-border disputes. She has acted as counsel on behalf of investors, organizations and states in several investment and commercial disputes, including the Court of Sport Arbitration (CAS), UNCITRAL, ICC, ICSID, LCIA and PCA-administered arbitrations. Sector specialisms include mining, energy, steel, construction, banking, and infrastructure projects.
She is particularly adept at dispute resolution relating to natural resources, sporting events, joint venture partners, shareholders, international organizations, institutional lenders, foreign investment laws, and state entities. Her appointment as an arbitrator in EuroGas Inc. and Belmont Resources Inc. v. Republic of Slovakia makes her one of the youngest ever appointed to an ICSID Annulment Committee (the final level of review at ICSID) since records began. She has served twice as an ICSID Annulment Committee member and served on the ICSID Panel of Arbitrators and leading arbitration panels globally.
According to the WB, Mahnaz publishes, teaches, and speaks extensively, and her writings are frequently cited in academic journals, arbitration awards, and examination papers and appear on syllabi. Her professional awards include the prestigious UK Financial Times Legal Innovator of the Year Award 2007 and the Law Society of England’s national award for Trainee Solicitor of the Year 2001. She has also served as a member of the ICC Commissions on Arbitration and Anti-Corruption. After graduating with an MA in Law from Cambridge University, Mahnaz Malik qualified as a Barrister in England and Wales, Attorney at Law in New York, and an Advocate in Pakistan. She is an Adjunct Faculty Member of the Master’s Programme in Investment Treaty Arbitration at Uppsala University, Sweden (2023-2024).
The World Bank Sanctions Board, composed of seven external judges, is an independent administrative tribunal that serves as the final decision-maker in all contested cases of sanctionable misconduct occurring in development projects financed by the World Bank. With the support of a dedicated Secretariat, the Sanctions Board functions as the second tier of the World Bank Sanctions System and issues final decisions on appeals of determinations reached at the first tier.
