The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is exploring expanded international collaboration in digital financial services through discussions with Financial Innovation for Impact (Fii), focusing on open banking, open finance, Innovation Hub initiatives and artificial intelligence. Sohail Javaad Syed, Executive Director of SBP’s Digital Financial Services Group, shared details of the engagement following a visit by Fii representatives Hunter Sims, Nick and Tom Ward to the central bank. According to his LinkedIn update, the discussions centred on expanding the strategic partnership between the organisations across several areas of financial technology and regulatory innovation. The engagement also included a meeting with Team Axiom, comprising Ali Muhammad, Anum Hamid, Hina Hameed and Nouman Ahmed from SBP’s Digital Financial Services Group. The discussions reflect the central bank’s interest in international knowledge exchange and collaboration as Pakistan develops its digital financial services ecosystem. However, the announcement does not disclose any new agreement, investment commitment, product launch or implementation timeline resulting from the visit.
Open banking and open finance were among the main areas discussed during the engagement. These models can enable financial institutions and authorised third-party providers to exchange customer-approved financial information through secure digital connections, potentially supporting more integrated financial services and new product development. The discussions come as SBP advances its own work on open banking regulations and digital financial infrastructure. The central bank’s Innovation Hub, established under SBP Vision 2028, provides a platform for structured engagement with fintech companies, financial institutions, technology providers and other ecosystem participants. Its purpose includes supporting controlled experimentation, stakeholder collaboration and evidence-based policymaking. Artificial intelligence was another major subject of the discussions, with particular attention to agentic AI, an emerging category of systems designed to carry out tasks through more autonomous decision-making and interactions with digital tools. In financial services, such technologies could have applications in customer support, operational processes, compliance and risk management, although their use requires appropriate safeguards for privacy, security and consumer protection.
Alongside the discussions with Fii, Syed highlighted an international achievement by SBP’s Project Axiom team at the C:>DIR Global Agentic Regulator Hackathon. The competition attracted 942 applicants from 65 countries, with 36 teams progressing to the build round. Project Axiom was named the top team in its stream and secured a place among the final six teams globally. The result puts the SBP team among the finalists of an international competition focused on applying agentic artificial intelligence to regulatory challenges. The achievement is particularly relevant as financial regulators worldwide assess how emerging AI technologies can support supervisory activities and improve regulatory processes. However, the LinkedIn announcement does not provide a technical description of Project Axiom, its underlying architecture, the specific regulatory problem it addresses or details of its working prototype. Further information would be needed to establish how the project could be applied within SBP’s operations or the wider financial sector.
The two developments highlight different dimensions of SBP’s approach to financial technology: international collaboration on digital finance and the development of local capabilities in emerging technologies. Engagement with Fii provides an opportunity to exchange knowledge on open banking, open finance and AI, while Project Axiom’s hackathon performance demonstrates the participation of SBP personnel in global regulatory innovation initiatives. Together, these efforts align with the central bank’s broader focus on developing digital financial services through innovation, institutional collaboration and responsible technology adoption. SBP’s Innovation Hub is intended to connect regulators, banks, fintech companies, academia and technology providers, while its wider digital finance agenda includes work on payments, financial inclusion and emerging technologies. Although the latest announcement does not confirm a new formal agreement or an operational AI solution, it signals continued engagement with international partners and growing attention to agentic AI within Pakistan’s financial regulatory ecosystem.
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