In December 2022, Bank of Punjab demonstrated to the local market why it is Asiamoney’s best bank for small and medium-sized enterprises in Pakistan. Chief executive Zafar Masud’s team unveiled an artificial intelligence-driven business platform for SME customers called BOP e-Business Qarza. The end-to-end digital lending programme speeds up the deployment of financing to the most important – and, for the moment, the most fragile – sector in Pakistan’s economy.
The platform is one example of how BOP’s unique SME proposition is raising the bar in Pakistan, both in terms of innovation and getting credit to small companies that need it most. And doing so in ways that increase efficiency and transparency.
The motivation behind the AI platform, Masud says, is to accelerate the modernization of a sector that plays an outsized role in driving national GDP, generating employment and producing export earnings. It also drives the financial inclusion needed to narrow the rich-poor divide in Pakistan. BOP’s objective is to scale up its contribution to economic development via higher incomes, greater competitiveness and increased disruption.
That means leveraging technology to increase SMEs’ economic firepower. Better technology is helping BOP and its customers to deliver their financial services to target clients faster and at a lower cost.