State Bank of Pakistan Launches Gender Mainstreaming Policy to Enhance Financial Inclusion

On the 17th of September 2021, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched a gender mainstreaming policy, titled Banking on Equality: Reducing the Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion.

Why it Matters?

The objective of the policy is to shrink the gender gap in financial inclusion and enhance women’s access to financial services, which according to Dr Arif Alvi, President of Pakistan, is a key driver for achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth of the country. There are five main pillars of the policy: improving gender diversity in financial institutions and their access points, developing and marketing women-centric products and services, creating women desks at bank branches for improved facilitation for women customers, gathering gender-...