SBP’s New Framework Aims to Protect Bank Customers Across Pakistan

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has rolled out a new regulatory framework designed to make Pakistan’s financial sector fairer, more transparent, and consumer-focused. The new initiative, titled the “Business Conduct and Fair Treatment of Consumers Regulatory Framework (BC&FRF),” aims to ensure that banks and financial institutions treat customers with integrity, transparency, and accountability at every stage of their engagement. By embedding fairness, ethical conduct, and data protection into financial operations, the framework seeks to build public trust, improve service standards, and create a more resilient and inclusive financial ecosystem. It is meant to safeguard consumer rights while strengthening institutional governance within Pakistan’s banking and payments landscape. The BC&FRF aligns with the SBP’s Vision 2028 and its strategic goal of enhancing market conduct and consumer protection. It has been finalized after an extensive consultation process involving stakeholders from both the demand side (consumers) and supply side (banks, DFIs, EMIs, PSOs, and PSPs). The framework introduces a combination of principles-based and rule-based obligations, depending on the institution’s nature and scope of operations. It covers the entire financial product lifecycle, from product design and pre-sale disclosure to service delivery, complaint handling, and relationship termination, ensuring that consumers are treated fairly throughout their interactions with banks and other financial institutions. Divided into two main parts, the BC&FRF outlines outcome-based general principles in Part I and six key pillars in Part II: