Abstract:
The following is an independent study conducted by Mohsin Ashfaque Khan (an MBA
student of NUST Business School) on the digital banking landscape of Pakistan. The State
Bank of Pakistan (SBP) provided digital banking licenses to five entities in Pakistan to set
up operations of a virtual bank and to provide all banking services through digital means.
The following are the five entities who received the digital banking license:
1. HugoBank Limited,
2. KT Bank Pakistan Limited,
3. Mashreq Bank Pakistan Limited,
4. Raqami Islamic Digital Bank,
5. Telenor Microfinance Bank/easypaisa Digital Bank.
This document aims to shed light on what exactly digital banks are and what their scope of
services is. Additionally, all five digital banks, including their sponsors, will be scanned in
detail. Furthermore, challenges in the sustainability and scalability of the operations of
these digital banks will be analyzed in the context of Pakistan’s current digital landscape,
the sponsors of these digital banks, and Pakistan’s cultural and societal fabric. Lastly,
keeping all the discussion and arguments in the background, it will be concluded whether these digital banks will be a success or a learning curve for Pakistan’s digital revolution.
This document is intended to be viewed and used by the defense committee of NUST
Business School. It is stressed that the information inside this document, especially the
stage at which each digital bank is, the different products they aim to provide, and
information pertaining to each bank’s technology stack and structural changes, be kept strictly confidential.
