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State Bank Launches InvestPak to Open Rs82 Trillion Sovereign Debt Market to Retail Investors

The web portal and mobile app aim to broaden who can buy government securities so the state can tap household and non-bank savings to ease pressure on bank financing.

Overview

  • The State Bank of Pakistan formally launched InvestPak on Monday with a live web portal and mobile app that let users open Investor Portfolio of Securities accounts and trade government papers online.
  • The platform lets individuals, corporates and foreign investors bid in primary auctions and trade in the secondary market, and it supports small-ticket entry with reported minimums around Rs5,000 through mobile wallets such as JazzCash.
  • SBP rolled out a nationwide media campaign plus a dedicated InvestPak call centre and online support to drive onboarding and explain how users can link PKR accounts and manage multiple IPS accounts from a single interface.
  • Officials framed InvestPak as a policy move to diversify the investor base and reduce the government’s reliance on commercial banks, noting that banks still hold about 78% of marketable government securities while non-bank holdings have risen to over Rs10 trillion and daily secondary trading reached near Rs991 billion in May.
  • The platform was developed under a World Bank–funded project and officials say uptake and the effect on bank lending and market composition will be tracked as investors and financial institutions adopt the system.