Eight banks in Pakistan – Habib Bank, United Bank, Allied Bank, Meezan Bank, Bank Alfalah, Bank of Punjab, JS Bank, and Bank of Khyber – will soon roll out a collateral-free SME lending scheme under the SME Assan Finance program. More popularly known as the SAAF program, the said scheme was launched in August 2021 by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), which is the country’s central bank. Under the financing facility mentioned above, the SMEs can avail of collateral-free financing of up to Rs 10 million to meet their short-term working capital and long-term capital expenditure needs.
