KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched a new policy on October 13, 2026. It aims to close the gap between men and women in banking.
The policy is called Banking on Equality (BoE) 2026. It is the second edition of SBP's gender policy.
How the First Policy Performed
SBP ran its first Banking on Equality policy from 2021 to 2025.
In that time, the gender gap in financial access fell from 39% to 29%.
Banks added more than 17,500 women as customers under the policy.
The share of women working in banks rose from 13% to 17%.
Many banks set up teams that build financial products for women.
SBP also won an award for this work. The Alliance for Financial Inclusion gave it the Policy Achievement Award for Gender Inclusive Finance 2026.
What the new policy wants
BoE 2026 sets four goals.
- Hire and keep more women in banks.
- Give more women access to digital banking.
- Grow women's businesses through support hubs and financial education.
- Collect better data on women's use of banking, split by gender.
New rules for banks
Hiring: Banks must set targets for hiring women. This covers staff, outreach teams, and branchless banking agents. SBP has asked banks to offer day care for working mothers. Banks should help mid-career women move into leadership roles.
Digital banking: Banks must run drives to bring more women online. They should build simple digital accounts made for women. Banks should also push digital payments for women-led businesses.
Loans: Banks must lend more to women. This applies most to small businesses owned or run by women. SBP wants banks to use different ways to check credit history for women who lack formal records.
Tracking progress: SBP will check bank performance every three months. It will also run mystery shopping checks to see how banks treat women customers.
