SBP is committed to enhancing financial inclusion

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmad reaffirmed the central bank’s commitment to increasing financial inclusion through strong collaboration with both global and domestic stakeholders.

He made these remarks in a meeting on Monday with the CEO of the Alliance for Economic Inclusion (AFI) Dr. Alfred Haning, who was on a visit to Pakistan.

Ahmad highlighted the third edition of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2024-2028 released by the SBP recently. He stressed that the central bank will promote efforts to strengthen financial inclusion through digitization and reduce the gender gap in finance.

SBP has been a founding member of AFI since 2008, which is a leading alliance of central banks and financial regulatory institutions from 84 countries with the common goal of promoting financial inclusion at national, regional and international levels.

SBP currently serves on the AFI board and is the vice-chair of the AFI Gender Financial Inclusion Committee and the South Asia Regional Financial Inclusion Initiative.

The SBP governor praised AFI’s support and long-standing partnership with the central bank of Pakistan, which facilitated peer-to-peer learning exchanges and capacity-building opportunities for SBP officers in developing and implementing evidence-based financial inclusion policies.

In his remarks, Alfred Hannig expressed AFI’s appreciation for SBP’s leadership in promoting financial inclusion in Pakistan and discussed areas of mutual cooperation to continue efforts to remove barriers.

He highlighted the critical need to strengthen the capacity of regulators in the South Asian region to achieve important financial inclusion policy goals and stressed that implementation should be balanced with effective cybersecurity resilience and consumer protection.

The meeting explored opportunities to further strengthen institutional cooperation in the areas of digital payments, financial literacy, sustainable finance and financing of micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Both parties resolved to continue efforts to improve the economic health and welfare of the masses, especially the unbanked and underbanked sections of the population.

SBP also organized a discussion between Hannig and financial inclusion stakeholders, including bank presidents and CEOs, representatives of Pakistan Banks’ Association, Pakistan Microfinance Network, Fintech Association & Network and SBP senior management.