ISLAMABAD: Amid a push from the government for greater financial inclusion, the banking industry has offered to finance efficient households, electric vehicles, and small and medium enterprises subject to better data availability for consumer scorecards.

At a meeting chaired by Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, the banking industry sought support from the utilities, particularly gas, electricity and telecom companies. These companies were also compelled by law a few years ago to share their data with credit bureaus to help facilitate the banking industry in lending-related decision-making despite initial reservations from certain sector regulators.

The meeting was attended by Governor State Bank of Pakistan Jameel Ahmed and Pakistan Banking Association (PBA) representatives led by its chairman Zafar Masud.

Mr Masud briefed the meeting about various initiatives planned by PBA for building an inclusive and sustainable financial ecosystem. He proposed that electronic warehouse receipt finance, SME index, corporate farming financing, venture capital fund for fintechs, revival of agri cooperatives and establishment of financial data exchange could be some of the potential initiatives to create a long-term impact towards a sustainable financial ecosystem, an official statement said.

Aurangzeb meets banking industry reps; vows to host stakeholder meeting

He also proposed initiatives such as fan financing, EV financing, solarisation of tube wells and markup subsidy and first loss coverage for SME financing for a short-term and more immediate impact on the system.

The governor SBP updated the progress achieved on various fronts regarding initiatives proposed by PBA for financing to priority sectors, adding that some of the proposals were concrete in scope and the central bank had already issued necessary notifications on the regulatory side to facilitate their implementation.

The governor also suggested more proactive consultation between stakeholders, particularly with telecom and power companies, on initiatives requiring data collection and building scorecards for agriculture and SME sectors for sustainable financing.

The statement quoted the minister as appreciating the work done by PBA and SBP for suggesting new and more tangible initiatives. He asked them to develop short-term initiatives and give immediate impact priority, and the implementation timeframe should be compressed for finalising them by the end of December and rolling them out early next year.

The minister promised to take up the data sharing with relevant ministries and regulators in the energy and telecom sectors and assured full support for arranging necessary consultations between the banking side and the stakeholder ministries. He also promised to host a meeting of all relevant stakeholders to hear their viewpoints and help forge a consensus on the proposed initiatives.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2024