PVARA, WB discuss digital infrastructure

Explore tokenised bonds, capital market, AI-based regulation

BANGKOK:

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.