The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has introduced the second edition of its Banking on Equality policy (BoE), which will help support the National Financial Inclusion Strategy's goal of cutting the gender gap in financial inclusion to 25pc by 2028, it said on Tuesday.
"The BoE 2026 is a reflection of the SBP's commitment to create an enabling environment where women can thrive and contribute their true potential to the economic development of the country," the SBP said in a statement. "Powered by digitalisation, entrepreneurship and access to finance, the policy is targeting to bring the unbanked into the financial fold," it added.
Women's inclusion in the financial sector is essential for long-term economic prosperity and a key part of SBP's Vision 2028, the central bank said. The previous BoE policy was the first-of-its-kind gender mainstreaming initiative in Pakistan aimed at reducing the growing gender gap in financial inclusion and making the banking industry more women-friendly.
According to the central bank, the gender gap in financial inclusion narrowed to 29pc in 2025 from 39pc in 2021. During this period, banks hired more than 17,500 women, lifting the share of female staff to 17pc from 13pc.
The BoE 2026 policy was finalised after consultations with local and international stakeholders and will aid the implementation of the World Bank-led Women Entrepreneurship Finance Code initiative, the SBP said. The new policy builds on earlier measures with enhanced targets to strengthen women's representation and retention in the financial sector, expand digital access to financial services, boost entrepreneurship and financial literacy through support hubs, and make greater use of gender-disaggregated data for monitoring and outreach.
It sets specific targets for the share of women in hiring, customer outreach, and branchless banking agents, while advising banks to introduce day-care facilities for working mothers and put in place career progression policies to move mid-career women into leadership roles. Furthermore, to improve women's access to financial services, BoE 2026 issues instructions to digitalise access through targeted digital on-boarding drives, simplified women-centric accounts, and the promotion of digital payments for women-led businesses.
"To boost financing for women-owned and women-led micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), the policy encourages improving the share of women borrowers across key financing segments," the SBP said. "Embedding a gender lens in credit planning, introducing simplified and specialised financing products, leveraging digital platforms and fintech partnerships, and adopting alternative credit assessment and collateral mechanisms are key features of the policy to better serve women with limited formal financial history," it added.