Central Depository Company of Pakistan Limited (CDC) has formalised collaborations with six insurance and takaful providers to facilitate IBAN-CNIC verification services under the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) revised customer onboarding framework. The participating organisations are State Life Insurance Corporation, JazzSure Insurance, Adamjee Life Insurance, Pak Qatar Family Takaful, 5th Pillar Takaful and Askari Life Insurance. The initiative is intended to help insurance companies meet the revised onboarding requirements through a verification service developed in collaboration with the State Bank of Pakistan’s Raast team. According to CDC, the service is being provided free of cost to support the participating institutions in adopting the updated process. The collaborations extend CDC’s involvement in the insurance sector and introduce a shared verification facility for organisations working to digitise customer onboarding.
The service centres on verifying a customer’s International Bank Account Number (IBAN) against their Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC). Linking banking details with identity information can help insurance and takaful providers validate customer information during onboarding and support the implementation of the SECP’s simplified requirements. The use of digital verification is also relevant to reducing manual checks and making customer registration processes more efficient. By providing the service without a fee, CDC aims to make it easier for participating companies to adopt the revised procedure without having to independently establish the same verification arrangements. The announcement, however, does not disclose the technical integration process, verification turnaround time, transaction limits or whether additional insurance companies will be included in subsequent phases.
The initiative is being implemented in support of SECP Circular No. 19 of 2026, which introduced revised requirements for customer onboarding in the insurance sector. The collaboration brings together CDC’s financial-market infrastructure role, the central bank’s Raast-related capabilities and the operational requirements of insurance and takaful providers. IBAN-CNIC verification is particularly relevant to financial services where accurate customer identity and bank-account information are required for processing transactions and maintaining regulatory compliance. For insurers, the facility is intended to support the adoption of the revised onboarding framework while making digital verification available through a common service. The announcement does not specify whether the verification facility will be extended to other financial institutions or provide a separate timeline for wider industry adoption.
CDC said the collaborations form part of its continued efforts to support digital transformation and regulatory reforms across Pakistan’s financial services industry. The participation of conventional insurers and takaful operators also indicates that the initiative is intended to serve different segments of the insurance market. Digital onboarding has become an important area for financial institutions as regulators seek to simplify customer-facing processes while maintaining appropriate verification standards. The free service could help participating providers integrate IBAN-CNIC checks into their onboarding procedures and reduce some of the operational work involved in meeting the revised requirements. Further details about implementation and access arrangements may be provided by CDC and the participating insurers as the service is rolled out. The initiative adds another use case for collaboration between financial-market infrastructure providers, regulators and payment-system stakeholders in supporting technology-based services across Pakistan’s insurance industry.
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