KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has received twenty applications for digital bank licences from a diverse range of applicants, including domestic commercial banks, microfinance banks, electronic money institutions and FinTech players, a statement said on Wednesday.
The central bank concluded the process of receiving applications for digital banks licences as per its announced deadline of March 31, 2022.
Foreign players already operating in the digital banking space overseas have also expressed their interest to venture into the Pakistani market.
The strong interest shown by both local and international players into the SBP’s digital banks’ initiative reflects their confidence in the financial sector of Pakistan and the potential of the investment opportunities available in the country.
Earlier this year on January 3, 2022, the SBP launched its “Licencing and Regulatory Framework for Digital Banks”.

While setting the foundation for the customers’ convenience, providing cost effective digital financial services and promoting innovation, the framework is primarily aimed at providing financial services to unserved and underserved segments of the society.
To achieve the intended objectives under this regulatory initiative, the applications were solicited from interested applicants who can demonstrate strong value proposition, robustness of technological infrastructure, sufficiency of financial strength, high level of technical expertise and effectiveness of their risk management culture in the Digital Banks’ space.
The SBP developed and finalised this framework after an extensive consultative process. Initially, the central bank released an exposure draft of this framework and a targeted survey was launched to invite feedback from local as well as international stakeholders.
Subsequently, a number of meetings were held with all the stakeholders to further enrich the consultative exercise. Later, the SBP also organised two interactive webinars titled ‘Digital Banks – A New Era in Pakistan’ and ‘The Promise of Digital Banks’ with leading local as well as international speakers to discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with digital banks as well as disseminate awareness about Pakistan’s digital bank licensing framework.
During the application window opened from January 3 till March 31, 2022, the SBP has remained engaged with all the interested applicants and held various rounds of discussions and meetings with all of them.
This initiative of State Bank would greatly help in providing financial services to underserved and unserved segments of the society.