Period of 1971 to 1990 As you may be aware, all 14 Pakistani commercial banks were nationalized and merged into 5 banks from January 01, 1974, and the financial landscape of the country changed significantly.
One of the rationales given for nationalization was the fact that private banks were likely to neglect small borrowers and other priority areas, and it was thought that with nationalization, the government could direct credit to desired sectors.