Building on its return to victory in 2024, the State Bank of Pakistan has once again secured the title of Best Central Bank in Promoting Islamic Finance, winning the honour for the second year in a row. The achievement reflects SBP’s strong commitment to guiding the country toward full Shariah compliant banking by 2027.
In 2025, governance remained at the heart of SBP’s Islamic finance drive. The revised Shariah Governance Framework came into force at the beginning of the year, introducing a range of measures aimed at improving transparency and efficiency across Islamic banks.
The central bank also continued aligning its system with international standards. By mid 2025, SBP had adopted around 20 standards issued by the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions. These steps form part of its third Strategic Plan for the Islamic Banking Industry for the period 2021 to 2025.
In this year’s rankings, Bank Negara Malaysia secured second place, while Bank Indonesia finished third in the same category.