SBP sets digital account and agent targets for women in Banking on Equality 2026
The central bank's second gender policy asks banks to open simplified digital accounts for women and to reach 35,000 women branchless banking agents.
Pakistan's central bank wants 35,000 women working as branchless banking agents and a gender gap in financial inclusion of 25 percent by 2028. Those are among the targets in the second edition of the Banking on Equality policy, which the State Bank of Pakistan launched on 13 October. The first edition began in 2021, and SBP says the gap has since narrowed from 39 percent to 29 percent in 2025.
Banks inducted more than 17,500 women under the first policy, lifting women's share of bank staff from 13 percent to 17 percent. The new policy sets the next mark at 22 percent by 31 December 2028 and tells banks to draw up action plans with timelines. SBP won the Alliance for Financial Inclusion's Policy Achievement Award for Gender Inclusive Finance 2026 on the strength of the first policy.
Digital accounts and agents
Financial institutions must run account opening campaigns through Asaan Mobile Accounts and Asaan Digital Accounts, aimed at women who do not hold formal jobs, work in the informal economy or earn through gig work. They must also launch Women Digital Business Accounts for women entrepreneurs, with simple processes and minimal documentation.
Banks are told to raise women's active account ownership by at least 20 percent a year and to encourage women owned and led businesses to use digital modes for payments and receipts. The policy document counts over 23,000 women agent outlets today, about 3 percent of the branchless banking network, against around 11,000 in 2021. The 35,000 target applies to women agents in the overall network.
Credit and data
On credit, banks are asked to aspire to double their financing portfolio to women and women owned or led businesses across priority sectors by 31 December 2028. The policy points them to digital platforms and fintech partnerships, and to credit models that use alternative data to judge the finances of women owned businesses with little formal history.
Banks must also keep a gender disaggregated data repository covering accounts, credit and payment transactions, and build dashboards from it. They are advised to work towards daycare facilities or allowances for working mothers and to set merit based career paths for mid career women.
SBP will track progress through quarterly data reporting and mystery shopping, and will rank banks on an annual BoE scorecard. The policy runs over a three year horizon and is meant to support the National Financial Inclusion Strategy goal of a 25 percent gap by 2028.
