Artificial intelligence in banking means using computer systems that learn from data to spot fraud, manage risk, serve customers and run operations more efficiently. At a Pakistan Banks’ Association–LUMS dialogue in Lahore on 2 November, Minister of State and Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) Chairman Bilal Bin Saqib urged lenders to treat AI in banking sector adoption as central to modernising finance, not as an optional add-on.
Speaking in a fireside talk titled “Partner, Competitor, or Bystander?” with Zafar Masud, chairman of the Pakistan Banks’ Association and president and CEO of the Bank of Punjab, Saqib said global finance is being reshaped by digital assets, tokenisation and AI. Pakistan, he argued, should stop acting only as a consumer of systems built elsewhere and help shape the next generation of infrastructure, standards and innovation.
Why banks are being pressed to move now
Saqib said Bitcoin opened the door, but the deeper change is the technology that alters how value moves, how assets are held and how capital reaches businesses. He pointed to large international banks integrating digital assets into institutional payments, treasury work and capital markets, and framed Pakistan’s choice as whether to keep “renting” its financial future or help build and own it.
Technological independence, he stressed, does not mean copying every foreign network. It means growing talent, institutions and capabilities so the country can influence the systems it depends on. On AI specifically, he said the technology is changing how financial services are built, delivered and secured, and listed growing uses in fraud detection, risk management, customer service, software engineering and operational efficiency.
“AI is changing what a small team can build,” he said, arguing that new financial infrastructure also changes how such teams reach customers, capital and global markets. He urged banks to invest in AI skills, retrain staff and deepen ties with universities such as LUMS, saying the larger prize is producing people who can build technology, not merely buy it.
Remittances, partnerships and what “success” would look like
Discussing Pakistan’s roughly $41.6 billion in annual remittance flows, Saqib said lower transfer costs matter more as the economics of cross-border payments shift. He flagged supervised, bank-led arrangements on major Gulf remittance corridors as worth examining, with regulatory coordination and safeguards. The aim, he said, is not moving tokens faster for its own sake, but ensuring more of an overseas worker’s earnings reach the intended family.
He encouraged bank presidents to partner with universities, researchers, engineers and start-ups, offering real business problems, mentorship and controlled environments to test useful tools. If major banks helped incubate fintech builders, he said, Pakistan could export technology instead of only importing it.
Safeguards and the next generation
Saqib emphasised coordination among PVARA, the State Bank of Pakistan (the country’s central bank) and other regulators within their legal mandates. New tools, he said, need supervision, cybersecurity, consumer protection and institutional accountability. Progress should be judged by businesses that grow, problems solved and capability built at home—not by events, memorandums or announcements alone.
Addressing students and young professionals at LUMS, he recalled working on digital assets since 2016 and asked why the next major financial technology firm should not emerge from Lahore, Karachi or Islamabad with bank support and Pakistani engineers. “I don’t want Pakistan to simply consume the future of finance,” he said. “I want Pakistanis to help build it.”
Aasan alfaaz mein
Wazeer-e-Riyasat Bilal Bin Saqib ne banks se kaha ke woh AI technology apnayein. Is se fraud pakarna, risk sambhalna aur customer service behtar ho sakti hai. Remittance—bahar se aane wale paise—ki cost kam karne ki bhi baat hui taake ghar walon tak zyada raqam pahunche. Matlab yeh hai ke banks nayi technology kharidne ke saath local talent aur companies bhi banayein.
