{
  "id": 14322506,
  "title": "SBP launches ‘BoE 2026’ policy",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/13/sbp-launches-boe-2026-policy",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-10-13T23:31:49.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Recorder",
    "slug": "business-recorder",
    "url": "https://www.brecorder.com/news/40444100/sbp-launches-boe-2026-policy"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Karachi: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has unveiled the second iteration of its Banking on Equality (BoE) policy, named BoE 2026, with a focus on narrowing the gender gap and promoting women's financial inclusion in Pakistan. This policy is rooted in SBP's dedication to fostering an environment where women can fully utilize their potential to contribute to the nation's economic growth. Driven by digitalization, entrepreneurship, and accessible finance, BoE 2026 aims to integrate unbanked individuals into the financial system.\n\nRecognizing the importance of women's participation in the financial sector for long-term economic prosperity, the BoE policy was the first of its kind in Pakistan, aiming to mitigate the widening gender gap in financial inclusion. Since its inception in 2021, the policy has successfully reduced the gender gap from 39 percent in 2021 to 29 percent in 2025. During the same period, over 17,500 women have been inducted under the policy, increasing the proportion of women staff within banks from 13 percent to 17 percent. Dedicated women's financial services departments have also been established to develop products and services tailored to women's needs.\n\nBoE 2026 builds upon the progress made by the previous policy, with more stringent actions and targets. These include enhancing women's representation and retention in the financial sector, expanding women's digital access to financial services, boosting women's entrepreneurship and financial literacy, and enhancing the use of gender-disaggregated data for monitoring and outreach. The policy sets concrete targets for women's representation in hiring, customer outreach, and branchless banking agents, while also advising banks to introduce day care facilities for working mothers and establish career progression policies to empower mid-career women in leadership roles.\n\nTo improve women's access to financial services, BoE 2026 instructs banks to digitize women's access to accounts and payment services through targeted digital onboarding drives, simplified women-centric digital accounts, and promoting digital payments for women-led businesses. The policy also encourages enhancing financing opportunities for women-owned and led micro, small, and medium enterprises, by improving the share of women borrowers across key financing segments. By embedding a gender lens in credit planning, introducing simplified and specialized financing products, leveraging digital platforms and fintech partnerships, and adopting alternate credit assessment and collateral mechanisms, BoE 2026 aims to better serve women with limited formal financial history.\n\nTo ensure the successful implementation of BoE 2026, the State Bank of Pakistan will implement a robust monitoring and evaluation framework, including quarterly data reporting and regular mystery shopping exercises. This policy builds on extensive consultations with international and local stakeholders. BoE 2026 will contribute to achieving the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) goal of reducing the gender gap in financial inclusion to 25 percent by 2028 and support the World Bank-led Women Entrepreneurship (WE) Finance Code initiative. Through stronger public-private partnerships, fostering women's entrepreneurship, and implementing targeted reforms, BoE Policy 2026 aims to create a more inclusive financial ecosystem that supports women's economic empowerment and contributes to overall national growth.",
  "summary": "KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) 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.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}