“In just four years, 110 million people in Pakistan gained access to banking. The digital infrastructure is live, the regulators are engaged, and the founders are building. The opportunity now is, who will become the foundational partners in this growth story.”

These words by Pakistan’s minister of IT, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, set the tone for the UK–Pakistan Fintech & Digital Finance Roundtable, convened by FCDO- funded REMIT on the sidelines of London Tech Week 2026, in collaboration with MoITT, PSEB, DBT.

The room included representatives from British banking groups, British hedge funds, the British High Commission, the UK Department for Business & Trade, fintech investors, and Pakistani technology companies.

The roundtable surfaced a clear alignment of interests. UK fintech firms see Pakistan as a high-growth market with strong government backing while Pakistani firms and policymakers see the UK as a hub for fintech innovation, capital, and partnerships. The conversation moved into specifics which included expanding access to international payment gateways, piloting API integrations, strengthening regulatory sandboxes, and building structured UK–Pakistan fintech platforms that go beyond one-off engagements.

There was strong consensus that the technology largely exists and the right execution environment with regulatory agility, payment interoperability, and sustained collaboration will make things flow.

REMIT aims to create the right network, followed by policy action to move UK-Pakistan engagement to commercial traction.