Experts have called for stronger data governance across Pakistan’s banking sector as the country’s digital payments ecosystem continues to expand and financial institutions handle increasingly large volumes of operational and customer data. The discussion comes amid rapid growth in digital banking activity and stronger economic linkages with South Asia and the Gulf, creating greater requirements for banks to manage information securely, maintain reliable records and ensure that decisions involving customers and financial transactions can be properly reviewed.
Workers’ remittances reached $41.6 billion in fiscal year 2026, while the State Bank of Pakistan reported 9.1 billion retail payment transactions worth Rs612 trillion during calendar year 2025. Digital channels accounted for 88% of these transactions, including 6.2 billion payments processed through mobile applications. The scale of activity means banks are continuously generating operational information covering customer behaviour, identity, payment activity and cross-border transactions. Experts argue that this growing body of information also creates a need for stronger systems capable of organising, protecting and analysing data while maintaining appropriate controls.
Against this backdrop, private artificial intelligence has been identified by experts as a potential technology for strengthening institutional governance, risk management, compliance and financial inclusion. Muhammad Ghazali Aqeeq, a Governance, Risk, and Compliance expert, said that deploying artificial intelligence within bank-controlled environments could enable institutions to convert large volumes of operational information into accountable and defensible decisions. Such systems could also provide clearer audit trails that can be reviewed by regulators, boards and customers when required, supporting greater visibility into how important decisions are made.
Aqeeq said private artificial intelligence environments could consolidate fragmented information within financial institutions and connect areas such as fraud management, sanctions screening and trade finance through a unified evidence trail. Bringing these areas together could help banks establish more structured records around risk and compliance activities while making information easier to audit. The approach also has implications for financial inclusion, as stronger data analysis could help institutions identify patterns associated with consumer complaints, fraud and other issues that can affect customers using banking services.
Pakistan’s financial infrastructure has expanded considerably, although the growth also creates challenges around data quality, customer consent and service risks. The State Bank of Pakistan’s 2024 Financial Inclusion Index recorded a score of 58.1, while the country had more than 19,800 bank branches and 756,480 branchless banking agents. This extensive network has expanded access to financial services across the country, but it also produces large and diverse volumes of information that financial institutions must manage while maintaining appropriate standards for privacy, security and accountability.
According to Aqeeq, private artificial intelligence could support inclusive banking by helping institutions proactively identify emerging patterns in customer complaints and fraud. Faster identification of these patterns could allow banks to investigate and address issues more efficiently while maintaining clearer responsibility for the actions taken. Such systems would also need to operate within defined controls so that the use of artificial intelligence does not remove the human review required for significant financial, compliance or customer-related decisions.
The regulatory environment for greater use of technology in financial services is also developing. The State Bank of Pakistan’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy 2024-28 promotes digital empowerment and responsible finance, while its internal audit guidelines encourage the use of advanced technological tools. These developments provide a framework within which banks can explore new technologies while continuing to meet regulatory and operational requirements.
Experts have also stressed that adopting artificial intelligence in banking requires strict operational discipline rather than technology deployment alone. Private artificial intelligence systems can allow banks to maintain control over data residency, role-based access and audit logging, which are important components of institutional data governance. Maintaining these controls can help financial institutions meet legal and regulatory obligations while ensuring that human oversight remains in place for material decisions. As digital payments continue to expand, stronger governance frameworks will remain important for managing the growing volume of data generated across Pakistan’s banking system.
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