The Bank of Punjab and the Office of Artificial Intelligence have signed a Memorandum of Understanding aimed at accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence across Punjab’s financial and public services landscape, marking a concrete step under the Digital Punjab vision of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif. The agreement was realised under the leadership of Ali Dar, Advisor to the Chief Minister on Artificial Intelligence, who described the partnership as the opening of a new chapter in the practical application of artificial intelligence in the province and a meaningful acceleration of its digital growth agenda.
A central component of the collaboration is the planned establishment of a Punjab Artificial Intelligence Data Center and a Financial Data Warehouse at Nawaz Sharif Information Technology City, which will serve as the foundational infrastructure for a data ecosystem capable of supporting artificial intelligence-driven services at provincial scale. Ali Dar said the initiative is tied to an ambitious target of making Punjab the largest artificial intelligence-enabled province in South Asia by 2029, and of positioning the province as an active artificial intelligence hub in the region through the development of a modern, integrated data environment. The data center and financial warehouse together are intended to provide the processing capacity and structured data access that artificial intelligence applications in banking, agriculture, and public services require to function at scale and with meaningful accuracy.
Beyond the infrastructure dimension, the partnership has a strong financial inclusion orientation. Under the agreement, innovative credit solutions are to be introduced for farmers, small businesses, and the housing sector, with artificial intelligence used to expand access to financial services for segments of the population that have historically been underserved by formal banking channels. Ali Dar noted that the initiative is expected to meaningfully improve credit access for small and medium enterprises, the agriculture sector, and underserved communities, while also strengthening the broader economy through more efficient and data-informed lending decisions. The collaboration is further designed to contribute toward a target of creating over 100,000 jobs, with engagement planned across startups, universities, and global artificial intelligence companies to foster innovation, research, and technology employment opportunities for the province’s youth. The partnership is presented as fully aligned with Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s vision of transforming Punjab into a comprehensively digital and artificial intelligence-powered province through sustained and coordinated institutional effort.
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