Pinar is a partner at Case and has been a practising economist for over 15 years during which time she has consulted extensively on the economics of regulation, competition and damages analysis. Prior to joining Case, Pinar held directorships at two international economic consultancies.

Pinar is an expert in the economics of network industries, with particular application in the energy and financial sectors. Pinar's work in the electricity and gas sectors has included advising on market structure and unbundling; the development of wholesale trading arrangements including virtual power auctions and contracts for differences; transmission and distribution regulation; including revenue determination and the development of licences; network access pricing; efficiency benchmarking methodologies, assessing wholesale and retail competition and measures for mitigating market power; as well as advising on regulatory and market investigations; and damages analysis.

Pinar’s financial sector work includes advising on competition in European retail payments networks; competition implications of interchange fees; competition and regulatory analysis of retail banking, mortgage and insurance markets; responding to European Commission market investigations of securities trading and post-trading markets; evaluating the impact of the implementation of MFiD in Europe; evaluating rules for front running and analyst bias in the UK; and on competition, risks and pricing in retail banking. She has also advised on matters relating to cost allocation, state aid and competition in postal and retail banking markets.

Pinar has worked throughout Europe and the Asia Pacific region. Her clients include energy companies, banks and other financial institutions including payments networks and clearing and settlement houses; regulators including the UK FSA, the Commission for Energy Regulation in Ireland, the European Commission and international institutions, such as the World Bank and International Finance Corporation. Her recent cases include some of the most high profile mergers in Europe including E.ON/MOL in Hungary, Dong/Elsam E2 in Denmark, BCP/BPI in Portugal and First Data/GZS in Germany. She has also assisted in connection with several EC investigations and antitrust cases including the EC Microsoft (2004) decision and European flat glass cartel investigation.

Pinar was educated in New Zealand and the UK and holds several degrees in economics (BA, MPhil and PhD) and business management (MBA). She has also held research positions and internships at the Department of Applied Economics at Cambridge University, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Pinar started off her career as a trade policy economist, focusing on GATT and APEC matters, with the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Email: pinar@casecon.com