Press Release: State Bank of Pakistan Designates Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs) for the year 2026

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced the designation of D-SIBs for the year 2026 in
accordance with Framework for ‘Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs)’ published in April
2018 and amended in December 2022.
The framework introduced by SBP is consistent with international standards and duly takes into
account the local circumstances of the financial industry and economy. It specifies the methodology
for the identification of D-SIBs, enhanced regulatory and supervisory requirements and
implementation guidelines for D-SIBs. The enhanced requirements aim to further strengthen the
resilience of systemically important banks against shocks and augment their risk management
capacities.
Under the framework, the identification of D-SIBs is carried out on an annual basis via two-step
process. In the first step, Sample D-SIBs are identified according to prescribed quantitative and
qualitative criteria. In the second step, D-SIBs are designated from amongst the sample D-SIBs based
on institutions’ composite systemic scores in terms of their size, interconnectedness, substitutability
and complexity.
SBP has carried out annual assessment of banks based on their financial statements as of December
31, 2025. As per the assessment, three banks i.e. United Bank Limited, Habib Bank Limited, and
National Bank of Pakistan have been designated as D-SIBs for the year 2026.