In addition, a small farmer financing scheme has been promoted based on group based lending and a crop loan insurance scheme has been structured which is now being offered by some insurance companies. Work has been completed on promoting agriculture Islamic finance and also providing capacity building both to farmers and bankers in regional languages.
Finally, to promote rural areas, SBP has mandated banks to establish 20% of their new branches in rural areas. As competition for deposits grows and lending is backed by adequate margins, banks will find their rural operations to be more attractive. Innovative products and methods of selling them will also increase banks’ reach and may change the “brick-and-mortar” nature of branch operations.