Karachi:
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Jameel Ahmed has reiterated the central bank’s commitment to enhance financial inclusion through strong collaboration with both global and domestic stakeholders.
He expressed these views on Monday in a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI), Dr. Alfred Hannig, who was on a visit to Pakistan.
Ahmed highlighted the third edition of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2024-28, recently launched by the State Bank. He stressed that the central bank will continue efforts to increase financial inclusion through digitalization and reduce the gender gap in finance.
SBP has been a founding member of AFI since 2008, a policy leadership alliance of central banks and financial regulatory bodies from 84 countries with the common goal of advancing financial inclusion at country, regional and international levels.
SBP currently serves on the AFI Board and is the Vice Chair of the AFI Gender Inclusive Finance Committee and the South Asia Regional Financial Inclusion Initiative.
The State Bank Governor appreciated AFI’s support and long-standing partnership with the Central Bank of Pakistan, providing peer learning exchanges and capacity building for SBP officers in developing and implementing evidence-based financial inclusion policies. Opportunities are provided.
In his remarks, Alfred Hannig commended AFI for the State Bank’s leadership role in promoting financial inclusion in Pakistan and discussed areas of collaboration to continue efforts to break down barriers.
He highlighted the critical need to build the capacity of regulators in the South Asia region to achieve effective financial inclusion policy objectives and emphasized that effective cybersecurity enforcement must be balanced with resilience and consumer protection.
The meeting explored opportunities to further strengthen institutional cooperation in the areas of digital payments, financial literacy, sustainable finance and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) financing. Both parties vowed to continue efforts to improve the financial health and well-being of the people, especially the unbanked and underbanked segments of the population.
SBP also organized a panel discussion between Hannig and financial inclusion stakeholders including bank presidents and CEOs, Pakistan Banks Association, Pakistan Microfinance Network, Fintech Association and Network and SBP. Representatives of senior management were involved.