Applying the RIA Lite Methodology: An Example from Pakistan

There is growing interest in understanding the impact of regulatory changes on financial inclusion. While a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) has become an integral part of law making in many OECD countries, it is still a relatively new concept in emerging and development economies and there is little precedence of conducting an RIA on regulatory changes that have a specific focus on advancing financial inclusion.

This study looks at Pakistan’s nearly decade-old experience with regulating digital financial services (referred in the local context as branchless banking) as a test case for the RIA Lite methodology, which combines elements of analyzing supply- and demand-side data, reviewing relevant legal documents, and interviewing experts from the central bank and from the industry.