Registered Users
1,882,998
Posted Jobs
103,801

Short Term -  Consultant for “Development of Framework for Fintech Regulations for Pakistan”

Chemonics International is implementing Pakistan Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA), which is a 5-year, $35 million project that is aimed at improvement of financial and operating performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan in selected high-performing industrial, manufacturing and services sectors.

The USAID Small and Medium Enterprise Activity (SMEA) needs to engage a team of local and international consultants to analyze the current Fintech regulatory environment and ecosystem in Pakistan and see how the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) can update either its regulations, and/or develop a new regulatory framework to improve the growth of Fintechs in Pakistan. As a part of this analysis, the consultants will also analyze the regulatory environment in other countries that have supported and helped grow the Fintech sector. Based on this comparative analysis, the consultants will identify and propose what sort of changes in the regulatory and institutional frameworks are needed. One of the expected areas of support is the development of a Fintech Regulatory Sandbox approach to encourage greater experimentation by Fintechs to help them penetrate the SME market in Pakistan.

Further details of the assignment can be seen in attached “Scope of Work”

Responsibilities:

The Consultant will have the following specific tasks to perform:

  • Analyze the current policies, regulations and licensing arrangements of SBP and SECP that potentially or currently effect the registration, operations and growth of Fintechs. This would be for tech companies that are offering or looking to offer financial services as their core business.
  • Engage with the relevant Government departments to understand and review the relevant applicable policies, regulations and institutional frameworks including, but not limited to, State Bank of Pakistan, Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Federal Board of Revenue, Provincial IT Boards, Ministry of Information Technology, Pakistan Software Export Board and others.
  • Engage with other ecosystem players such as tech-based incubators, donor funded programs on financial innovation, sectoral associations (such as P@SHA) and prominent Fintechs to discuss the demand side of regulation and what sort of support is expected by Fintechs.
  • Identify comparable countries where Fintech Regulations (and Regulatory Sandbox where applicable) have been developed and have resulted in growth for Fintechs. Review the relevant regulations and policies of these countries with a view to replicate their success in Pakistan
  • Propose and design specific, detailed Framework for Fintech regulations for Pakistan that can be taken up by SBP and SECP for classification, registration, governance and monitoring of Fintechs
  • Identify capacity building and institutional building areas for SBP to help their relevant staff understand and successfully implement the Fintech Regulations Framework.
  • Propose and design a regulatory sandbox approach (including but not limited to regulatory sandbox guidelines, objectives and principles of the sandbox, sandbox registration requirements, defining qualifying entities and requirements, evaluation criteria for applicants, rules of business and approval processes, sandbox application templates, etc.) and how this can be implemented in Pakistan given the AML/CFT (Anti Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism compliance related requirements of SBP.
  • Define SBPs supervisory principles/framework for observing entities/applicants in the sandbox.
  • An implementation roadmap including relevant organizations and timelines for rolling out the designed regulations.

Qualification – Experience.

Fintech Local Consultant (35 Days of Level of Efforts):

  • Master’s degree in Banking Law, Finance, Technology or Business Administration from a reputed local or international university
  • At least 10 years of experience working with the financial sector and preferably with the financial technology (Fintech) sector
  • Deep knowledge and understanding of the national, regulations and policies covering financial services in Pakistan or a comparable country and especially the growth of Fintech sector
  • A sound understanding of issues related to financial inclusion for SMEs and how current commercial banks struggle to penetrate the SME market
  • Experience working with the State Bank of Pakistan on design and promotion of policies is seen as a strong positive
  • Previous experience or knowledge of Fintech Regulations or Regulatory Sandbox in other countries preferred
  • Excellent communication and report writing skills

For this assignment, the consultant will work in close coordination with an international Fintech expert.