Islamabad, 18 March 2026 — Ravi Urban Development Authority and easypaisa digital bank have formalised a partnership to expand digital financial services across 93 villages under RUDA’s jurisdiction, signing an MoU at RUDA’s head office in Lahore to promote awareness and accessibility for branchless banking.
The agreement was signed by Shahzad Khan, Chief Business Officer of easypaisa digital bank, and Brig. (Retd.) Bakhtiar Akram, Executive Director, Land Acquisition at RUDA. Senior representatives from both organisations attended the ceremony, including Bilal Saeed Khan and Umer Faraz Anjum from easypaisa, and Fatima Ali Khan, Ahad Yousuf, Syed Moazzam Ali and Raza Shahid from RUDA.
The collaboration supports the Prime Minister’s Cashless Pakistan Scheme and aims to embed digital financial solutions into the planning of Ravi City so that residential, commercial and public sectors adopt cashless payments from the outset. By making digital transactions the default, the partnership seeks to boost transparency, convenience and economic efficiency in rural communities while aligning with UN sustainable development goals.
Shahzad Khan highlighted easypaisa’s reach, noting that every fifth Pakistani now holds an easypaisa account and the platform counts more than 59 million registered users. He said the easypaisa RUDA initiative will focus on practical measures to bring branchless banking to people and small businesses across the 93 villages, enabling residents to participate fully in the digital economy.
Brig. (Retd.) Bakhtiar Akram described the MoU as a demonstration of how technology integration in development planning can deliver tangible benefits, with the ambition of turning the targeted villages into model communities for economic modernity and inclusion.
As Pakistan’s first digital bank to begin commercial operations, easypaisa reaffirmed its commitment to work with RUDA and the State Bank of Pakistan to expand financial products and services, targeting those who remain unbanked or underbanked and helping position Ravi City as a benchmark for cashless urban development.
