Photo: Swerveut / Wikimedia Commons ↗, Public domain ↗
KARACHI, September 17, 2026 — The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has closed the first cohort of its Regulatory Sandbox. A sandbox lets firms test a live product with limited users under the regulator’s supervision. SBP announced on September 15, 2026 that four of the six shortlisted participants “successfully demonstrated their solutions”. It also said this is not a licence.
Who passed testing
According to SBP’s statement, reproduced by Mettis Global and Dawn, the four participants are:
| Participant | Theme |
|---|---|
| Taptap Send UK Limited & United Bank Limited (UBL) | Technology-enabled solutions for inward remittances |
| Digi Khata (SMC-Private) Limited | Open banking |
| Swich Retail Private Limited | Open banking |
| Neem Exponential Financial Services (Pvt) Ltd | Open banking |
The cohort covered three themes: inward remittances, open banking and remote onboarding of merchants. SBP said six participants were “invited to test their solutions in the sandbox from January to June 2026.”
When SBP announced the shortlist on January 6, 2026, it also named The Bank of Punjab (remote onboarding of merchants) and Barq Fintech (Pvt) Ltd (inward remittances). Neither appears in the September list. SBP’s statement does not say why, and no merchant-onboarding participant is listed as successful.
Not an approval
SBP made the limit explicit: “successful completion of sandbox testing does not imply regulatory approval and successful participants must obtain proper authorization and approval from SBP before the commercial launch of their product or service, that was tested in the Sandbox.”
SBP said the results will feed into rules for the wider industry: “The findings, learnings, and regulatory recommendations from cohort-1 will help SBP in the development of relevant regulatory frameworks for the benefit of broader industry.”
What changed
- Before: Six participants were shortlisted on January 6, 2026 to test for up to six months in a controlled live environment.
- Now: SBP says four completed testing successfully: one remittance solution and three open-banking solutions. None has sandbox-based approval to launch commercially.
- Effective: SBP announced the result on September 15, 2026. Launching a tested product still needs separate SBP authorisation.
What this means for you A sandbox result is not a licence, so a remittance or open-banking service described as “tested with SBP” is not thereby approved. If you receive money from abroad, use the channels on our from-abroad guide and check a provider’s status on SBP’s website.
