Raqami Islamic Digital Bank has officially launched as Pakistan’s first fully Islamic digital retail bank operating entirely on domestic cloud infrastructure, marking a significant milestone in the country’s financial technology landscape. The bank’s complete technology framework has been deployed on Garaj, a Tier III-certified cloud platform operated by JazzWorld, positioning the institution at the forefront of cloud-native banking in a tightly regulated environment.
Unlike traditional banks that transition gradually from legacy systems, Raqami was architected from the ground up as a cloud-native institution. Its entire technology stack—including core banking systems, digital customer channels, and both Production (PR) and Disaster Recovery (DR) environments—runs on Garaj’s locally hosted infrastructure. The platform integrates built-in redundancy, continuous monitoring, access governance controls, and threat detection capabilities designed to meet the resilience and security standards required for regulated financial entities.
By leveraging a domestic Tier III-certified environment, Raqami aims to combine scalability with operational assurance. Tier III certification signifies high availability architecture with redundant capacity components and multiple independent distribution paths, ensuring minimal downtime and continuity of service. For a digital-only bank, where uptime and transaction integrity are mission-critical, such infrastructure provides a foundational layer for sustainable growth and customer trust.
The fully hosted model allows the bank to maintain regulatory compliance while optimizing performance and agility. Hosting both PR and DR environments within the same certified ecosystem enables seamless failover capabilities and structured business continuity planning. This approach reduces reliance on fragmented infrastructure and enables unified governance across operational domains, from cybersecurity oversight to performance analytics.
Shahzad Rasheed, President Enterprise Solutions at JazzWorld, stated that the launch underscores Garaj’s capacity to support regulated banking workloads at national scale on secure, resilient domestic cloud architecture. He highlighted that the deployment demonstrates the maturity of Pakistan’s local cloud ecosystem, capable of handling mission-critical financial operations without dependence on offshore hosting arrangements.
From Raqami’s leadership perspective, the infrastructure decision was central to its operating philosophy. Umair Aijaz, CEO of Raqami Islamic Digital Bank, noted that deploying on Garaj enabled the institution to establish a secure, scalable, and forward-looking digital foundation. According to him, the cloud-native environment accelerates product innovation cycles while maintaining strict operational safeguards and cybersecurity protocols aligned with regulatory expectations.
The bank’s launch reflects a broader shift within Pakistan’s banking sector toward digital-first models supported by sovereign cloud capabilities. By hosting its entire stack domestically, Raqami aligns with data localization considerations and strengthens ecosystem confidence in locally managed infrastructure. This structure not only addresses performance and compliance requirements but also reinforces the importance of business continuity-enabled digital banking systems in an increasingly interconnected financial environment.
With this rollout, Raqami sets a new reference point for cloud-hosted Islamic financial services in Pakistan. The deployment illustrates how a fully digital retail bank can operate securely and efficiently within a domestic cloud framework, potentially shaping the blueprint for future entrants in the country’s expanding fintech and digital banking space.
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