Pakistan’s financial sector has entered a new phase of digital transformation. Instant payments, remote onboarding and mobile-first banking have steadily changed how financial services are delivered, reducing reliance on physical branches and making banking more accessible for millions of customers.
Yet one challenge continues to demand attention. Women remain significantly less likely than men to participate in the formal financial system, limiting the country’s ability to unlock its full economic potential.
Across South Asia, financial inclusion has accelerated over the past decade. According to the World Bank’s Global Findex database, account ownership has risen sharply across the region and the gender gap has narrowed considerably. Pakistan has also made meaningful progress, although the pace of inclusion among women continues to trail the country’s wider digital transformation.
The State Bank of Pakistan has sought to address this challenge through its Banking on Equality policy, placing women’s financial inclusion at the centre of the country’s financial sector reforms. Since the initiative was launched in 2021, women’s financial inclusion has increased from 39 percent to 52 percent, while the gender gap in access to financial services has narrowed from 39 percent to 30 percent. The number of women-owned active bank accounts has surpassed 38 million, reflecting steady progress in expanding women’s participation in Pakistan’s formal financial system.
Recent data published by the State Bank also illustrates how much potential remains. As of December 2025, Pakistan had 39.7 million female depositors, compared with 63.2 million male depositors. Similar disparities remain in access to credit and the use of digital financial services, suggesting that the next phase of financial inclusion will depend on expanding access and encouraging greater participation across the financial system.
For Muhammad Hamayun Sajjad, CEO of Mashreq Pakistan, these developments signal important momentum while reinforcing the scale of the work that still lies ahead.
“Financial inclusion should be viewed as an economic priority because its impact extends well beyond banking. Every additional person who can save securely, receive payments, invest and access financial services contributes to stronger economic participation. Expanding financial access for women creates value for households, businesses and the wider economy.”
The conversation has also evolved. Historically, expanding financial inclusion meant opening more branches and increasing physical presence. Today, digital infrastructure is reshaping that equation. Customers increasingly expect banking to be available wherever they are, allowing financial services to fit around their lives instead of requiring them to adapt to traditional banking models.
According to the State Bank’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2024-28, promoting secure and easy digital financial services is one of the strategy’s five core priorities. During the first year of implementation, Pakistan’s financial inclusion rate increased to 69 percent while the gender gap narrowed further to 29 percent. The banking system added 6.8 million new unique accounts during 2025 and more than 55 percent of them belonged to women, reflecting the growing role women are playing in the country’s formal financial system. Initiatives including Raast, Asaan Mobile Accounts, digital onboarding and digital banks are helping extend financial services to previously underserved segments while reducing many of the barriers associated with conventional banking. The State Bank has also identified digital financial services as a key driver of recent gains in financial inclusion, noting that digital channels have helped improve women’s access to banking by enabling them to access financial services remotely.
Muhammad Hamayun Sajjad believes digital banking has fundamentally changed how financial institutions can reach customers.
“Access to banking was once closely linked to physical proximity. Digital banking has expanded those possibilities considerably. Customers can complete onboarding remotely, manage their finances securely and make payments instantly without repeated visits to a branch. Greater convenience supports wider participation across society and becomes particularly valuable for customers managing multiple responsibilities.”
The significance extends beyond personal banking. Pakistan’s digital economy has opened new avenues for women to participate as entrepreneurs, freelancers, professionals and owners of home-based enterprises. Digital commerce continues to create opportunities for women to build businesses, serve customers across the country and generate independent sources of income. As more women are able to establish and scale businesses through formal financial channels, the impact extends beyond individual entrepreneurs. Growing women-led enterprises create employment opportunities, increase women’s participation in Pakistan’s workforce and broaden the country’s productive capacity. Expanding access to finance therefore supports not only entrepreneurship but also stronger and more inclusive economic growth.
The country’s digital payments ecosystem is expanding alongside these businesses. According to the National Financial Inclusion Strategy’s latest progress report, more than 2 million merchants now accept digital payments through Raast QR codes, creating a stronger foundation for small businesses and entrepreneurs to participate in the formal digital economy.
These changing patterns of work also require financial institutions to rethink how services are designed.
“Women’s financial needs reflect the diversity of the roles they play within the economy. Someone running a home-based business has different requirements from a freelancer, a consultant or a salaried professional. Financial institutions create better outcomes when products and services are designed around those realities while remaining simple, intuitive and accessible.”
The National Financial Inclusion Strategy also identifies financial literacy as a strategic priority, recognising that expanding access must be accompanied by greater confidence in using formal financial services. This reflects the understanding that financial inclusion extends beyond opening accounts to ensuring people have the knowledge and skills to use them effectively. Regional experience also offers useful lessons. Several South Asian economies have reduced gender disparities in account ownership through sustained investment in digital financial infrastructure, simplified onboarding, digital identification and payment ecosystems. The common thread has been a long-term commitment to making financial services easier to access and simpler to use rather than relying on technology alone.
Muhammad Hamayun Sajjad believes customer trust will ultimately determine the pace of progress.
“Technology creates new possibilities. Long-term adoption depends on whether people feel confident using those services in their everyday lives. Simplicity, security and reliability continue to shape customer decisions just as much as innovation.”
For Mashreq Pakistan, whose operating model has been digital from the outset, accessibility is closely linked to customer experience.
“Digital banking should make financial services both more accessible and easier to use. As expectations continue to evolve, financial institutions have an opportunity to remove unnecessary complexity and create experiences that support customers through every stage of their financial lives.”
Pakistan has already established much of the infrastructure needed to accelerate financial inclusion. The challenge now is to ensure that progress in digital access translates into deeper engagement with formal financial services, whether through savings, payments, credit or entrepreneurship. Developing stronger savings habits is a key part of that journey. Encouraging customers to move beyond using current accounts solely for transactions and towards actively building savings helps strengthen household financial resilience while increasing the pool of deposits that can be channelled back into productive economic activity. For many women entering the formal financial system for the first time, developing a regular savings habit can serve as the foundation for greater financial independence and future access to credit and investment opportunities.
Closing the gender gap in banking is becoming part of a much broader economic conversation. Expanding women’s participation in the formal financial system supports entrepreneurship, strengthens household financial resilience and broadens the country’s productive capacity. As Pakistan continues to advance its digital financial ecosystem, digital banks have an increasingly important role to play in accelerating that progress. Drawing on its global experience in digital banking, Mashreq Pakistan aims to bring international best practices that support the country’s vision of reducing the gender gap, expanding financial inclusion and creating greater economic opportunity for women.
