Minister of State and Chairman Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, Bilal Bin Saqib, holds high-level meetings with senior leadership of the World Bank Group, IFC, Treasury, Digital & AI and Controllers, during the 2026 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group in Bangkok, Thailand. The discussions revolved around modernising Pakistan’s financial infrastructure and mobilising international capital.
The engagements focused on positioning Pakistan to benefit from the next generation of global financial innovation, including asset tokenisation, digital capital markets, artificial intelligence, cross-border payments and technology-enabled regulatory supervision.
In a meeting with Imad N. Fakhoury, Regional Vice President for the Middle East and Central Asia at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private-sector development arm, discussions explored potential collaboration on tokenised bonds and sukuk, digital financial infrastructure, cross-border payments and mobilisation of international private capital.
The engagement examined how emerging financial technologies could help Pakistan attract investment, deepen its capital markets and create new financing opportunities for the public and private sectors.
Chairman PVARA also met Jorge Familiar, Vice President and Treasurer of the World Bank Group, to explore potential cooperation on digital bond issuance, asset tokenisation and AI-enabled financial operations.
Discussions included opportunities for knowledge exchange, institutional capacity building and the application of emerging technologies to improve financial market efficiency, settlement infrastructure and access to capital, while maintaining financial stability and investor protection.
In a separate engagement, Bilal Bin Saqib met Sangbu Kim, World Bank Group Vice President for Digital & AI, alongside Jonathan Gen Nagao, Director for Data & AI, and Ozan Sevimli, Acting Director of Strategy & Operations.
The meeting focused on the potential application of artificial intelligence to financial regulation, particularly in strengthening supervisory capabilities, institutional expertise and digital asset oversight.
Discussions also explored asset tokenisation and opportunities to leverage global technical expertise to strengthen Pakistan’s regulatory infrastructure and accelerate the development of its digital economy.
Further advancing the institutional agenda, Chairman PVARA met Zinga Venner, Vice President and World Bank Group Controller, alongside Junxue Chu, Director of Trust Funds and Loan Operations, and Thomas Puschnik, Solutions and Transformation Manager.
The discussion explored blockchain-enabled financial transparency, AI-powered regulatory supervision and opportunities to strengthen the technological and institutional foundations of Pakistan’s emerging digital asset regulatory framework.
Alongside these engagements, Bilal Bin Saqib also participated in an investor roundtable organised by Barclays, alongside Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb and State Bank of Pakistan Governor Jameel Ahmad.
The roundtable brought together international investors to discuss Pakistan’s improving macroeconomic fundamentals, ongoing structural reforms, investment opportunities and renewed engagement with international capital markets.
Reflecting on the series of engagements, Minister of State and PVARA Chairman Bilal Bin Saqib said:
“Pakistan must move beyond simply adopting emerging financial technologies to building the institutions that will shape the future of finance.
From tokenised capital markets and more efficient cross-border payments to AI-powered regulation, our ambition is to unlock international investment, strengthen financial transparency and create real economic opportunities for Pakistan.
The next chapter of Pakistan’s economic transformation must be driven by innovation, backed by credible institutions and anchored in financial stability.”
Collectively, the engagements reflect Pakistan’s broader ambition to move beyond establishing a regulatory framework towards exploring the financial infrastructure, institutional partnerships and technological capabilities required to participate in the evolving global digital economy.
With discussions spanning sovereign debt tokenisation, digital capital markets, AI-powered supervision and international private capital mobilisation, PVARA is exploring how responsible financial innovation can support Pakistan’s economic development priorities.
The engagements also reinforced the importance of building credible institutions, strengthening regulatory safeguards and ensuring that innovation contributes to financial stability, investor confidence and sustainable economic growth.
Pakistan’s next phase of digital finance development will focus not only on regulating emerging technologies, but also on exploring how they can be responsibly deployed to attract investment, modernise financial markets and unlock new opportunities for the country’s economy.
