Documenting history is unfortunately not one of the strongest suits of Pakistan, at least beyond the same old themes of security and civil-military relations. The lesser-known stories of social change, driven by technology and innovative businesses, hardly ever make it out in written form even though they may provide us with far more room for optimism. Perhaps we are so used to self-deprecation that anything positive is just not worth pursuing or highlighting.

One of those grand changes has been the growing access to financial services in Pakistan. From being a basket case around a decade ago, we have come a long way as far as account ownership and transaction activity are concerned.

The latest Karandaaz Financial Inclusion Survey (KFIS) attests to this transformation, noting that 35 per cent of adult Pakistanis in 2024 had a registered account with a formal institution, ie a bank, wallet or non-banking financial institution. In 2014, this figure stood at just 7pc. Though disparities exist, this improvement has been broad-based, with female registered users rising from 3pc to 14pc, whereas the corresponding proportion of males went from 11pc to 56pc.

Region-wise, the differences were more visible, with Punjab showing comfortably the best performance, with 40pc of its adults reported having an account with a formal........

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