State Bank of Pakistan

With the rapid growth in adoption of digital banking channels, more so after the pandemic, the expectations of banking sector and their customers for contactless interactions have increased manifold. To enhance the coverage of digital onboarding process and bring efficiency and effectiveness in the account opening process using technology, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to issue “Customers’ Digital Onboarding Framework” for opening of bank accounts digitally by Resident Pakistanis.
This Framework sets minimum requirements and standards that banks/Microfinance Banks (MFBs) have to meet while designing and implementing a seamless and standardized digital onboarding experience for their customers. The Framework is envisaged to promote SBP’s digitization efforts and it is expected that the banking industry would also welcome and support these efforts, resulting in increased convenience for the customers to fulfil their financial needs through swift and secure digital infrastructure in Pakistan. This initiative would also help in achieving SBP’s financial inclusion objectives.
For “Customer Due Diligence”, banks/MFBs shall utilize available technological and other resources for customer identification and verification, while complying with the enclosed Framework along with all applicable laws and regulations including but not limited to AML Act 2010, AML/CFT/CPF Regulations, Foreign Exchange Regulations and Enterprise Technology Governance & Risk Management Framework for Financial Institutions, as amended from time to time.
The banks/MFBs shall implement this Framework at the earliest but not later than December 31, 2021. In this regard, banks/MFBs are advised to submit their tangible plans along with concrete timelines for the implementation of this Framework within 30 working days from the issuance date of this Circular.
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Enclosure: Customers’ Digital Onboarding Framework