SBP launches second edition of Banking on Equality Policy

ISLAMABAD  –  State Bank of Pakistan has launched the second edition of its Banking on Equality (BoE) Policy that aims to further reduce the gender gap and advance women’s financial inclusion in the country. The BoE 2026 is the reflection of SBP’s commitment to create an enabling environment where women can thrive to contribute their true potential in the economic development of the country. Powered by digitalization, entrepreneurship and access to finance, the policy is targeting to bring the un­banked into the financial fold. Women’s inclusion in the financial sector is essential for long-term economic prosperity and a key part of SBP’s Vi­sion 2028. The previous BoE policy was first of its kind gender mainstreaming initiative in Pakistan that aimed to reduce the growing gender gap in fi­nancial inclusion and make the banking industry more women friendly. As a result, overall gender gap in financial inclusion has narrowed from 39 percent in 2021 to 29 percent in 2025. Moreover, during this time, banks have inducted over 17,500 women under the policy, improving the overall ra­tio of women staff from 13 percent to 17 percent, while dedicated women’s financial services de­partments/teams are in place at banks to develop women centric products and services.

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Based on the systematic implementation of BoE Policy since 2021, SBP recently won the prestigious Policy Achievement Award for Gender Inclusive Fi­nance 2026 by Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI). Now, the BoE 2026 has been introduced which builds upon the earlier policy’s progress, with en­hanced actions and targets to: i) strengthen wom­en’s representation and retention in the financial sector, ii) expand women’s digital access to financial services, iii) boost women’s entrepreneurship and financial literacy through support hubs, and iv) en­hance use of gender disaggregated data for moni­toring and outreach. The new policy sets targets for women’s ratio in hiring, customer outreach, and branchless banking agents. It also advises banks to introduce day care facilities for working mothers, and have career progression policies in place to ad­vance mid-career women into leadership roles. Fur­thermore, to improve women’s access to financial services, BoE 2026 issues instructions to digitalize women’s access to accounts and payment services through targeted digital on-boarding drives, simpli­fied women-centric digital accounts, and promoting digital payments for women-led businesses.

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