Poverty—the malignant malady ailing today’s world—has posed a major challenge to emerging nations in their pursuit of economic growth and social development. And rightly so, because macro-economic growth does not always filter down to the last legs of society. And millions are left to suffer poverty, trapped without hope or respite.

Even with Pakistan averaging an impressive GDP growth rate of over 7.5 per cent over the last several years, unemployment has rated above 5 per cent while literacy is estimated at only 54 per cent. Every fourth Pakistani is surviving below the poverty line.

Tackling these deep-rooted issues is beyond the very structure and scope of mainstream commercial banking and that’s not even their objective. About 80 per cent of Pakistan’s population does not at all have access to financial services by the commercial banks. Hence microfinance is a targeted strategy to bring about change in the lives of millions for whom it is by far the only true hope of improving their lives.

But in order to make micro-credit work, one has to keep some harsh ground realities in mind. The majority of people who need to benefit from microfinance live in remote and rural areas which are often difficult to access. Many don’t even have a permanent address. Most are either illiterate or semi-literate. All this means that microfinance is a high-cost proposition hardly perceived as a commercial activity designed for profit…

Though not in the case of Khushhali Bank Limited—one microfinance institution that is convincingly dispelling this misconception through its pioneering performance. With initial funding from the Asian Development Bank, and the paid-up capital subscribed by 16 commercial banks, Khushhali Bank Limited was established in August 2000 as the country’s first licensed microfinance institution.

Backed by a strong banking expertise and an in-depth knowledge of the emerging socio-economic markets, and driven by a deep and compassionate understanding of the poverty factor, Khushhali Bank Limited is today the largest microfinance institution in Pakistan in terms of coverage. Its operations and impact span across all the four provinces of the country, Jammu and Kashmir and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. And being a pioneer, born and bred on a solid home ground, Khushhali Bank Limited is fully prepared to offer viable answers to how poverty can be alleviated and optimistically eliminated in the near future.

Initialized in 2000, Khushhali Bank Limited was established as a part of the Government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan's Poverty Reduction Strategy and its Microfinance Sector Development Program (MSDP). MSDP was developed with the assistance of Asian Development Bank. With its headquarters in Islamabad Khushhali Bank Limited operates under the supervision of the State Bank of Pakistan and various central (Commercial) banks are its shareholders. Its mandate is to retail microfinance services and to act as a catalyst in stabilizing the country's newly formed microfinance sector.