AI a powerful engine for financial inclusion

Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority Chairman Bilal Bin Saqib has said that artificial intelligence and tokenisation can become the developing world's most powerful engines for financial inclusion, provided they are built for people left outside of the financial system. He delivered a keynote address on financial inclusion, AI and tokenisation at a forum marking 50 years of microcredit at the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly. Speaking at the Social Business, Youth and Technology Forum, Saqib, who is also the minister of state, spoke about the choice now facing emerging economies as the rules of global finance were rewritten. The address placed Pakistan's own journey within a wider story. Worldwide, an estimated 1.3 billion adults remain without an account at any financial institution, while close to 900 million of them already own a mobile phone. The gap, he argued, was no longer one of technology but of rails and rules, and of the willingness to build them. It was highlighted that in 2018, Pakistan closed its banking system to digital assets. With the passage of the Virtual Assets Act 2026, that door was reopened under a clear regulatory framework, followed by the establishment of a regulatory sandbox and the launch of licensing regulations for virtual asset service providers.