SBP governor unveils ‘Access to Finance (A2F) Survey 2015’ results

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has launched ‘Access to Finance (A2F) Survey 2015’ results on Tuesday.

SBP Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra while speaking at the launching ceremony said that A2F was part of the national financial inclusion vision as it would serve dual purpose of gauging the impact of their financial inclusion initiatives since 2008, and providing baseline data for the national financial inclusion strategy.

While addressing presidents/CEOs of banks and key stakeholders, Mr Wathra shared that traditionally one of the key challenges to access to finance had been the lack of demand side information which was necessary for understanding the barriers to financial inclusion. “Without such information the market doesn’t have the insights and capacity to develop client centric products and services.” He hoped that the survey would help all the stakeholders in understanding knowledge, attitude and practices of a common Pakistani when it comes to managing financial matters. On this occasion, André Oertel from M/s Horus Development Finance also made a detailed presentation sharing the findings of the report.