The FinTech Roundtable 2026 brought together Federal Minister for IT and Telecom Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Governor Sindh Syed Nehal Hashmi, Secretary IT and Telecom Zarrar Hasham Khan, Chief Executive Officer of Ignite Muhammad Bilal Abbasi, Chief Executive Officer of PSEB Faisal Jeddy, alongside regulators, founders, and industry leaders. The scale of senior government and institutional representation reflects the significance placed on the discussion, bringing together decision makers from both federal and provincial levels alongside key technology sector bodies.
The discussion focused on advancing a cashless economy, expanding financial inclusion, supporting SMEs and women entrepreneurs, increasing digital payment adoption, and addressing regulatory, infrastructure, and international market access challenges. This broad agenda reflects the interconnected nature of Pakistan’s fintech development goals, where progress in one area, such as digital payment adoption, often depends on parallel advances in regulatory clarity and infrastructure investment.
As Pakistan pursues its twenty five billion dollar IT export ambition, the roundtable highlighted the importance of helping fintech innovators access capital, scale solutions, and compete globally. This connection between domestic fintech development and Pakistan’s broader IT export goals underscores how financial technology has increasingly become viewed as a strategic pillar within the country’s larger digital economy ambitions, rather than a standalone sector operating independently of export focused policy.
The roundtable’s emphasis on SMEs and women entrepreneurs specifically reflects continued government attention toward closing gaps in financial access for underserved segments of Pakistan’s economy, an area that has seen dedicated policy attention through initiatives such as the Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme and the State Bank’s Women Inclusive Finance Program. Bringing these considerations into a fintech specific discussion suggests continued alignment between financial inclusion policy and the technology sector’s broader development.
The event was organised by National Incubation Center Karachi and supported by Ignite National Technology Fund under the Ministry of IT and Telecommunication, reflecting the continued role incubation centres play in convening high level policy discussions alongside their more conventional startup support functions. The roundtable adds to a series of recent engagements bringing together Pakistan’s fintech ecosystem stakeholders, following closely on the heels of the announcement of a ten million dollar fund under the second phase of the Pakistan Startup Fund made during related discussions in the same period.
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