State Bank of Pakistan cyber security requirements
The regulatory expectations the State Bank of Pakistan places on the institutions it supervises for technology governance and cyber security risk.
NUEXUS delivers readiness, gap assessment, implementation support and evidence preparation. NUEXUS is not an accredited certification body and not an auditor, and cannot certify you, issue an attestation, or sign off on a result.
How it is organised
Governance and accountability first
The expectations begin with board and senior management responsibility for technology risk, not with technical controls. Evidence of ownership and reporting is what a supervisory review looks for first.
Risk management applied to technology
Technology and cyber risk are treated as part of enterprise risk management rather than as a separate IT concern, which means the risk register, appetite and reporting lines have to connect to the ones the institution already runs.
Resilience and continuity
Availability of financial services is a supervisory interest in its own right, so continuity, recovery and incident handling carry weight equal to preventive controls.
What an assessor will ask to see
- Board-approved technology and information security policy, with review records
- Technology risk register connected to enterprise risk management
- Incident records and regulatory reporting evidence
- Business continuity and disaster recovery testing results
- Outsourcing and vendor due diligence records
Where it usually goes wrong
- Technology risk maintained separately from enterprise risk, so it never reaches the board
- Continuity plans documented but not exercised end to end
- Outsourcing arrangements without the assurance the regulator expects
- Incident timelines that cannot be evidenced after the fact