State Bank unveils Asaan Digital Accounts

KARACHI: To celebrate the journey of women’s financial inclusion in Pakistan, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in collaboration with Bank Alfalah, Standard Chartered Bank and the United Bank Limited, hosted an event titled “Asaan Digital Account: Breaking Barriers”, on March 7, 2022, a statement said.

SBP Governor Dr Reza Baqir was the chief guest. The event was organised to mark the International Women’s Day.

Dr Baqir expressed confidence that the Asaan Digital Account will break the barriers in financial inclusion of women by offering faster, cheaper, efficient and convenient solutions for meeting their requirements.

The Asaan Digital Account is a fully digitalised solution for opening a full-service bank account from anywhere, at any time, through smartphones or computers with only a computerised national identity card (CNIC) and no other documentation requirements.

The SBP governor lauded the contributions of women in various fields and stressed that women empowerment is the key to socioeconomic development in the country.

The gender gaps do not allow women the same freedom to avail opportunities, rights and obligations in all walks of life, compared with men.

“However, the International Women’s Day encourages us to pause and reflect on the systemic barriers that limit women in their pursuits,” he said and stressed the need to reflect and renew the sense of ambition and transformative possibility around gender equality in financial services space.

Dr Baqir said that traditionally, women’s participation in the financial services remained low due to persistent barriers such as cumbersome documentation requirements, proximity to the bank branches and availability of suitable products, which together with the constraining social and cultural norms, have prevented women from availing even the basic financial services such as owning a bank account.

The central bank is breaking these barriers and addressing women’s financial inclusion through various initiatives such as banking on equality policy, Raast, Pakistan’s first instant payment system, a comprehensive “Customers’ Digital Onboarding Framework” to facilitate convenient opening of bank accounts, Asaan Mobile Account where anyone with a simple feature phone can open and use an account by dialing *2262#.

In the same vein, the SBP has also launched various financing schemes such as SBP Refinance and Credit Guarantee Scheme for women entrepreneurs, SME Asaan Finance or SAAF Initiative and the Prime Minister’s Kamyab Jawan Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme, etc, and a country-wide National Financial Literacy Programme, which is imparting essential financial education to the masses.

Dr Baqir highlighted that these initiatives were already bridging the gender gaps in the financial sector and services. However, he stressed that more needs to be done and encouraged women to open their bank accounts through the newly-introduced Asaan Digital Account.

He urged all the banks to take measures for making the account opening process more simple, increase the value proposition for women, and market the features to expand their outreach.

Bank Alfalah Group Head Mehreen Ahmed said that the bank has been playing its part for a number of years now in helping women across many segments of the economy to become financially independent.

Bank Alfalah has been enabling women entrepreneurs with the initial funding to start their new ventures, as well as providing funding for growing their already established businesses.

Standard Chartered Bank CEO Rehan Shaikh said that women are an integral constituent of the society and their full and equal participation in all facets of the society is a fundamental human right.

He lauded the efforts of the State Bank of Pakistan for playing a leading role in creating an environment to push the frontiers in this space. With continued focus and support by the State Bank of Pakistan, the banking industry is embracing digital transformation, he added.

UBL President and CEO Shazad Dada congratulated the State Bank on Asaan Digital Account initiative and termed its resounding success to its simplicity and accessibility to the customers from across Pakistan, including unbanked regions.

The account is ideal for the women of Pakistan, as it can be opened from anywhere and there is no need to visit a branch to open or maintain the account.

The event was attended by heads of financial institutions, influential women leaders and prominent figures from various walks of life.

On this occasion, SCB, UBL and Bank Alfalah had set up stalls where the audience experienced live account opening of Asaan Digital Accounts.