{"id":5201,"date":"2025-06-19T13:40:31","date_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pkfin.kotenterprises.dev\/?p=5201"},"modified":"2025-06-19T13:42:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-19T08:42:02","slug":"financial-inclusion-in-pakistan-rises-to-35-karandaaz-survey-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pkfin.kotenterprises.dev\/?p=5201","title":{"rendered":"Financial Inclusion in Pakistan Rises to 35%: Karandaaz Survey 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

KARACHI: Karandaaz Pakistan<\/a> has released the 2024 edition of the Karandaaz Financial Inclusion Survey (K-FIS), marking a decade of demand-side financial data and providing a powerful roadmap for advancing inclusive finance in Pakistan.<\/p>\n

K-FIS continues to be the only nationally representative demand side survey that captures people\u2019s real financial experiences across gender, geography, and income segments. The 2024 findings reveal a significant leap in financial inclusion, which has increased fourfold, from just 8 percent in 2013 to 35 percent in 2024. This growth is primarily driven by the rise of mobile money, now used by 30 percent of adults, up from less than 1 percent ten years ago.<\/p>\n

While this progress is encouraging, the report highlights persistent gaps in usage, trust, and equity. Only 14 percent of women report owning a full-service financial account, compared to 56 percent of men. Women\u2019s access to mobile phones also remains limited, with only 46 percent ownership compared to 82 percent for men, limiting their ability to avail digital financial services.<\/p>\n

Geographic disparities persist as well. Punjab (40 percent), Islamabad (38 percent), and Gilgit-Baltistan (33 percent) have made significant strides in inclusion, whereas Balochistan (23 percent) and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (25 percent) continue to lag behind. The adoption of the government-backed RAAST payment system<\/a> shows promise, with wallet registrations more than doubling from 17 percent to 41 percent in the last two years. Users cited speed (77 percent) and affordability (43 percent) as the main advantages.<\/p>\n

Addressing the webinar for the launchof report, Waqas ul Hasan, CEO Karandaaz, has said as the K-FIS results reveal, there is a persistent and troubling gender divide.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, 56 percent of adult men in Pakistan have a registered financial account, compared to just 14 percent of women,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

He said that Karandaaz envisions a Pakistan<\/a> where these divides no longer exist and where every individual, regardless of gender, has the tools to participate fully in the formal economy. \u201cWe believe that inclusion is not a one-time achievement, but a continuous journey, and that data, like the one we share today, must guide us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Despite this progress, formal financial services remain underutilised. A striking 85 percent of adults continue to rely on informal sources \u2014 mainly family and friends\u2014for credit. Meanwhile, trust remains a critical barrier: only 9 percent of excluded adults say they trust banks, and just 8 percent trust mobile money providers. Only 36 percent feel comfortable using any financial service.<\/p>\n

During the keynote address, Syed Samar Hasnain, Executive Director Digital Financial Services, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), stressed on the significance of demand-side surveys, commenting, datasets are collected regularly on the supply side, from the perspective of financial institutions.<\/p>\n

However, data collection efforts on the demand side, from the perspective of households and individuals, are limited. Nonetheless, individual level surveys are essential to get invaluable insights regarding financial behavior, he added.<\/p>\n

The webinar for the launch also featured two important panel discussions. The first one, titled \u201cFrom Growth to Gaps \u2013 Who\u2019s Included, Who\u2019s Left Behind: The Next Horizon in Financial Inclusion?,\u201d was moderated by Stephen Rasmussen, former CEO of CGAP, with an expert panel consisting of Jahanzeb Khan, CEO, easypaisa Digital Bank; Mehr Shah, Head of Research, Raqami Islamic Digital Bank; and Umair Ahmad, Senior Joint Director, Agricultural Credit & Financial Inclusion Department, State Bank of Pakistan.<\/p>\n

The second panel, titled \u201cClosing the Gender Gap in Financial Inclusion and Building Financial Resilience<\/a> within Communities,\u201d was moderated by Ali Akbar Ghanghro, Senior Manager, Research & Insights, Karandaaz Pakistan. The panel featured Patrick Reily, Founding Partner, Uplinq Technologies; Hussam Razi, Associate Director, Innovations for Poverty Action; Halima Iqbal, CEO, Oraan; and Nageen Akhtar, Head of Innovation, Bank Alfalah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KARACHI: Karandaaz Pakistan has released the 2024 edition of the Karandaaz Financial Inclusion Survey (K-FIS), marking a decade of demand-side financial data and providing a powerful roadmap for advancing inclusive finance in Pakistan. K-FIS continues to be the only nationally representative demand side survey that captures people’s real financial experiences across gender, geography, and income […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5202,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post","format-standard"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t