I returned from two days at the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank Annual Meetings in Bangkok with a clear conviction: the future of finance is becoming inseparable from the state's capacity. Debt, inflation, fiscal discipline and investment remain essential.
But the programme also addresses tokenisation, agentic AI, digital infrastructure and AI's potential to create jobs. Increasingly, these are parts of the same economic agenda.
I met World Bank Vice President and Treasurer Jorge Familiar; International Finance Corporation (IFC) Regional Vice President Imad Fakhoury; World Bank Vice President for Digital & AI Sangbu Kim; and World Bank Group Controller Zinga Venner. We discussed digital capital markets, investment, AI-enabled regulation and blockchain-based financial transparency.
We entered those conversations with progress behind us. Pakistan has established a statutory framework for virtual assets, introduced regulatory application routes and enabled conditional banking access for licensed providers.
Now we must build an environment where enterprise grows, investors have confidence and people participate with meaningful protection. Three questions stand out: How can innovation help businesses access capital?
How can regulators supervise increasingly complex markets? And how can governments know where public money goes?
On October 8, the IMF published analysis drawing on its Global Financial Stability Report chapter on tokenisation. Its assessment was neither unqualified enthusiasm nor blanket rejection: markets remain small and fragmented, constrained by legal uncertainty, interoperability and settlement.
Tokenisation connects issuance, trading, settlement and servicing through programmable ledgers. But greater speed can accelerate financial stress.
The IMF emphasises enforceable rights, consistent regulation and safe settlement assets. Pakistan must participate in this conversation.
The question is not whether an asset can be tokenised, but whether holders have enforceable claims and the system works when something goes wrong. The IMF's New Economy Forum paired tokenisation with agentic AI.
As assets become programmable and software acts on delegated instructions, who authorises actions, sets limits and remains accountable? Regulatory capability must develop alongside technology, not after markets have scaled.
In 2024, the World Bank issued a CHF 200 million digital bond, using Swiss National Bank wholesale central bank digital currency for settlement, while preserving familiar custody channels. In June 2025, the IFC invested $100 million in Isbank's digitally native note in Türkiye.
Settled the same day through Euroclear's digital infrastructure, its proceeds were intended for businesses, farmers and entrepreneurs in earthquake-affected provinces. These are earlier precedents, but they explain why engagement with Treasury and the IFC matters.
For Pakistan, could a digital bond or sukuk improve settlement or investor access? Would investors buy it?
Can custodians hold it? Are full costs lower, including legal and operational expenses?
Digitising debt does not make the borrower more creditworthy. Cheaper processing does not automatically mean cheaper borrowing.
The objective should be better financing, with technology serving that objective. My discussion with the World Bank Controller included blockchain-enabled financial transparency.
The World Bank's FundsChain platform helps stakeholders trace development funds securely.