JazzWorld and Population Council Pakistan Collaborate to Advance Inclusive Digital Development
July 11, 2026
NBP and 1LINK hosted a Bank Activation Session in Karachi to deepen staff expertise on debit card adoption and accelerate Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem.
Pakistan’s push toward a cashless economy received a quiet but meaningful boost this week. National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and 1LINK, the country’s leading interbank payment infrastructure provider, jointly hosted a Bank Activation Session at NBP’s Head Office in Karachi.
The session brought together senior leadership and the Karachi Region Teams to deepen institutional knowledge on digital payment tools and accelerate grassroots adoption across the bank’s network.
The session focused specifically on NBP Debit Cards, walking participants through their full suite of features, benefits, and usage scenarios, with particular emphasis on how card-based transactions can meaningfully enhance customer convenience and drive digital payment adoption at scale.
The session forms part of a broader capacity-building initiative aimed at equipping frontline banking teams to deliver on Pakistan’s national digital payments vision.
Adnan Nasir, Group Chief Digital Banking at NBP, said: “NBP recognizes that digital payment adoption is the cornerstone of financial inclusion for national economic progress. Bank Activation Sessions will enable the concerned teams to be best equipped to translate that vision into everyday customer experience.”
Najeeb Agrawalla, Chief Executive Officer of 1LINK, added: “Collaboration with NBP is central to advancing Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem. 1LINK remains committed to working alongside our partners to build the infrastructure and capacity needed for a strong cashless economy.”
The session was attended by a cross-functional cohort of senior executives from both organisations, including Faisal Ahmed, Group Chief Operations; Zahir Khursheed, Officiating Group Chief Retail Banking Group; and Ausaf Ahmed, Acting Group Chief Information Technology, alongside officials from NBP’s Head Office, regional offices, and Karachi Region Teams.
The initiative sits within a broader national narrative. Pakistan’s State Bank of Pakistan has been actively promoting digital financial inclusion through its flagship Raast instant payment system and the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which targets a measurable shift in the ratio of digital to cash transactions across the economy.
NBP, as the country’s largest state-owned commercial bank with a network spanning thousands of branches and ATMs, occupies a uniquely powerful position in that transition. Its ability to convert frontline banking staff into active advocates for digital payment products could determine the pace at which millions of Pakistanis move from cash to card.
For 1LINK, the partnership reinforces its role as the connective tissue of Pakistan’s digital payments backbone. The company operates the national ATM switch and supports interoperability across the country’s banking network, making its involvement in activation and capacity-building initiatives a strategic multiplier for the entire ecosystem.
As Pakistan’s digital economy continues to evolve, the NBP-1LINK collaboration signals that the path to a cashless society runs not just through technology, but through the people trained to deploy it.
