SBP launches Second Cohort of Regulatory Sandbox

KARACHI, Oct 02 (APP): The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched the second cohort of the Regulatory Sandbox on Friday, aimed at fostering innovation in financial services.

Announcing the launch of the second cohort, in a statement issued here, the SBP vowed to support responsible innovation in the digital financial services ecosystem while ensuring consumer protection and financial stability.

The initiative, launched in August 2025 in line with SBP Vision 2028, is conceived to enable the applicants to test their innovative solutions and help SBP in refining and upgrading the regulatory environment in line with the emerging technologies.

The second cohort is focused on use-cases covering the themes; AI in Financial Services, Innovations in Payments and Technology enabled Inward Remittances, and NextGen Financial Services as the Open Theme, it added, clarifying that only those proposals that fall within the scope of these themes shall be considered.

The first cohort of the Regulatory Sandbox concluded in June 2026 with successful demonstration of four solutions in themes of Open banking and technology-enabled inward remittances. Short listed participants tested their solutions in a controlled environment under the regulatory oversight and guidance and necessary support by SBP teams.

The central bank encouraged the interested individuals and firms having innovative solutions in the specified themes to take part in the process. Applications for participation in the second cohort will be accepted till November 30, 2026, through email while application form for participation in Regulatory Sandbox as well as step-by-step procedure is available in the Guidelines at SBP portal.