According to the SBP Governor, Dr. Reza Baqir, “Digital account opening…is the way forward. We have a plan to introduce this facility domestically and to allow digital onboarding.” According to Governor, the community was facing problems in opening new bank accounts, especially some housewives who had lodged complaints as bankers asked them for their source of income or their husband’s source of income to open an account.
SBP will Allow People to Open Digital Accounts
With this initiative, now women will be able to open their bank accounts easily. Recently, Pakistan has allowed overseas Pakistanis to open their bank accounts without visiting the branches and embassies in their host countries. The SBP Governor further highlighted that we are planning to introduce this facility domestically and to allow digital onboarding. Housewives have registered the complaints of facing difficulties in opening accounts at banks as bankers asked them their source of income or their husband’s source of income. Now the digital account will help them and will also address the issues facing by them. He further added, “materially help with the account opening of housewives and more generally allow lending and credit to reach women as well.” He also instructed the banks to produce quality data on gender banking which helps the central bank to formulate better policies for all, including women. The SBP governor said women were offered concessional financing through the central bank. “The concessional financing offers women to get loans of up to Rs5 million at 5% interest rate. There is 60% risk coverage being provided to banks. This means the traditional issues of (submitting) collateral (for loan acquisition) can be considerably overcome.” Recommended Reading: SBP Allows Local Businesses to Make Instant Payments for Acquiring Services from Globally Recognized Digital Service Providers
