KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said on Wednesday it had granted in-principal approval (IPA) for establishing five digital retails banks (DRBs) in a bid to “foster innovation, financial inclusion and availability of affordable digital financial services.”
SBP issued no-objection certificates to five successful applicants for establishing digital banks in Pakistan in January 2023. After the fulfillment of necessary requirements, the entities have now been granted in-principal approval to prepare themselves operationally to launch digital financial services.
The five digital retail banks are HugoBank Limited, KT Bank Pakistan Limited, Mashreq Bank Pakistan Limited, Raqqami Islamic Digital Bank Limited and Telenor Microfinance Bank Limited.
A digital bank operates online and provides its customers the services that were previously available only at a bank branch. DRBs usually cater to the retail segment like individual customers and small and medium businesses.
“Governor SBP highlighted the significance of the initiative of introducing DRBs in the country, its profound benefits to the financial system and some of the key challenges faced by such a genre of financial players,” the SBP said, quoting Jameel Ahmed, who also spoke about other important regulatory initiatives in support of building a digital financial ecosystem and assured that the SBP was fully committed to supporting various stakeholders for a “bright, innovative, and digitally empowered future of banking in Pakistan.”
“Jameel Ahmed also shared his expectations that post operational commencement, digital banks will help developing a digital eco-system, foster a new set of customer experience, provide affordable digital financial services including credit access to unserved and underserved segments of the society,” the central bank said.
The in-principal approvals will enable the proposed DRBs to proceed further with achieving operational readiness in all functions, including governance, risk management, capital requirements, compliance and audit, consumer protection, business continuity, cybersecurity, product development, deployment of technological infrastructure, formulation of relevant policies, processes and procedures.
Earlier this year, SBP issued no-objection certificates to the proposed DRBs, allowing them to incorporate as a Public Limited Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). The five institutions were selected after a thorough and rigorous evaluation process based on a comprehensive set of parameters including fitness and propriety, experience and financial strength; business plan; implementation plan; funding and capital plan; IT and cybersecurity strategy and outsourcing arrangements.
Upon attaining operational readiness, the five institutions would finally be required to seek approval of the SBP for the commencement of operations.
Pakistan’s central bank approves five digital retail banks
https://arab.news/9cdz7
Pakistan’s central bank approves five digital retail banks
- State Bank issued no-objection certificates to five applicants for establishing digital banks in Pakistan in January 2023
- HugoBank, KT Bank Pakistan, Mashreq Bank Pakistan, Raqqami Islamic Digital Bank, Telenor Microfinance Bank approved
At ECO meeting, Pakistan proposes ‘Regional Innovation Hub’ to curb natural disasters
- Pakistan hosts high-level 10th ECO Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction in Islamabad
- Innovation hub to focus on early warning technologies, risk informed infrastructure planning
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has proposed to set up a “Regional Innovation Hub on Disaster Risk Reduction” that focuses on early warning technologies and risk informed infrastructure planning, the Press Information Department (PID) said on Wednesday, as Islamabad hosts a high-level meeting of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
The ECO’s 10th Ministerial Meeting on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) is being held from Jan. 21-22 at the headquarters of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in Pakistan’s capital.
The high-level regional forum brings together ministers, and senior officials from ECO member states, representatives of the ECO Secretariat and regional and international partner organizations. The event is aimed to strengthen collective efforts toward enhancing disaster resilience across the ECO region, the PID said.
“Key agenda items include regional cooperation on early warning systems, disaster risk information management, landslide hazard zoning, inclusive disaster preparedness initiatives, and Pakistan’s proposal to establish a Regional Innovation Hub on Disaster Risk Reduction, focusing on early warning technologies, satellite data utilization, and risk-informed infrastructure planning,” the statement said.
The meeting was attended by delegations from ECO member states including Pakistan, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Representatives of regional and international organizations and development partners were also in attendance.
Discussions focused on enhancing regional coordination, harmonizing disaster risk reduction frameworks, and strengthening collective preparedness against transboundary and climate-induced hazards impacting the ECO region, the PID said.
ECO members states such as Pakistan, Türkiye, Afghanistan and others have faced natural calamities such as floods and earthquakes in recent years that have killed tens of thousands of people.
Heavy rains triggered catastrophic floods in Pakistan in 2022 and 2025 that killed thousands of people and caused damages to critical infrastructure, inflicting losses worth billions of dollars.
Islamabad has since then called on regional countries to join hands to cooperate to avert future climate disasters and promote early warning systems to avoid calamities in future.
