On 7 October 2008, he was appointed an adviser to the government and was elevated to the post of finance minister after being elected as a senator from Sindh on 27 July 2009.

[6] In 1997, then-PM Nawaz Sharif asked Tarin to turn around state-owned Habib Bank, for which he left the $1 million plus job in the United States.

[12] Shaukat Tarin was a major stakeholder of Saudi Pak Commercial Bank (SPCB) and formed a consortium, along with senior banker Sadeq Sayeed, International Finance Corporation (IFC), BankMuscat, Nomura Holdings and Sinthos Capital to acquire an 86.55% stake in SPCB from Saudi Pak Industrial And Agricultural Investment Co. Ltd. for $213 million in cash on 31 March 2008.

Subsequently, Saudi Pak was rebranded as Silkbank Limited on 1 June 2009 with a strategic focus on SME & Consumer financing for increased profitability.

[18] Shaukat Tarin served as a member on the economic and finance committee from 18 April 2019 under then Prime Minister Imran Khan.