More Than 6.8 Million Pakistanis Joined the Banking System Last Year

Pakistan’s financial system added more than 6.8 million new unique bank accounts during 2025, with women accounting for 55 percent of new account holders, according to the State Bank of Pakistan’s first annual progress report on the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) 2024-2028.

The central bank said all annual headline targets under the strategy were achieved during its first year of implementation. As a result, Pakistan’s financial inclusion rate increased to 69 percent, while the gender gap in financial access narrowed to 29 percent.

The strong growth in account ownership reflects the country’s broader push toward digital finance and formal banking services. A key milestone during the year was the nationwide rollout of Raast Person-to-Merchant payments, which enabled more than two million merchants to accept digital payments through QR codes.

Pakistan also expanded its financial inclusion infrastructure by introducing district-level dashboards tracking banking access, deposits, financing, and other key indicators. The initiative places Pakistan among a relatively small group of countries that publicly publish granular financial inclusion data.

Another major development was the launch of Zarkhez Asaan Digital Qarza, Pakistan’s first end-to-end digital agricultural lending platform. The platform has attracted 21 banks and around 10,000 merchants and vendors, while more than 22,000 farmers have registered and received approvals for financing worth Rs. 1.9 billion.

The central bank also introduced a Digital Scorecard Model aimed at facilitating low-cost housing finance and improving access to credit for underserved segments of the population.

Of the 52 actions identified under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, 10 had been fully completed by the end of 2025, with the remaining initiatives largely progressing according to schedule.

Going forward, the SBP plans to expand agent interoperability, introduce digitally enabled model villages, improve district-level financial reporting, and revise branch licensing rules as part of broader efforts to bring more individuals and small businesses into the formal financial system.