The 1LINK new board held its first formal meeting on July 31, 2026, marking a quiet but significant shift at the heart of Pakistan’s digital payments infrastructure. 1LINK (Private) Limited, Pakistan’s first fully licensed and designated Payment System Operator (PSO), welcomed its newly constituted board of directors to their first board meeting on Friday, July 31, 2026. For most Pakistanis, the name 1LINK barely registers, yet every time you use an ATM, send money via 1IBFT, or scan a QR code at a shop, you are using a system this company runs.
Who Is on the 1LINK New Board?
Atif Bajwa, President and CEO of Bank Alfalah Limited, takes the chair of the board, joined by Nassir Salim (President and CEO, Habib Bank Limited) and Yousaf Hussain (President and CEO, Faysal Bank Limited) as nominee directors. Other members include Abdul Wahid Sethi (CFO, National Bank of Pakistan), Ali Naqvi (Chief Digital Officer, Askari Bank Limited), Ammara Masood (Global Industry GM, Banking and Financial Services, Systems Limited) as an independent director, and Tania Aidrus (CEO, Waseela Global) as an independent director.
The mix matters. Putting the chiefs of HBL, Bank Alfalah, and Faysal Bank around one table, alongside a tech executive from Systems Limited and a former digital Pakistan champion in Tania Aidrus, signals that the new board wants both commercial firepower and digital expertise steering 1LINK’s next chapter.
During a special Town Hall that followed the board meeting, Atif Bajwa addressed the employees and shared the board’s collective vision for 1LINK’s future, emphasising leadership, collaboration, innovation, and the role of its people in driving the company’s success. The Town Hall gave 450-plus employees the chance to meet the new board in person.
Why 1LINK Matters to Every Pakistani
1LINK is Pakistan’s first fully licensed Payment System Operator (PSO) and the largest interbank payment switch in the country, established in 2004 to connect multiple banks and financial institutions into a seamless electronic payment network. Think of it as the invisible motorway that carries your bank transactions from one institution to another in real time.
It pioneered the development and operations of the interbank network, providing interoperability through a shared ATM network, real-time interbank funds transfers, and connectivity to international payment schemes such as Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, and JCB. Without 1LINK, you would only be able to use your own bank’s ATMs.
Today, 1LINK’s portfolio covers 41 member banks, 23 affiliate members, 5,342 billers, 59 bank and non-bank aggregators, and 63 non-banking financial initiators. That is a huge network, and whoever sits in the boardroom shapes how fast or slow it all moves.
The Raast Connection
1LINK is not just about old-school ATM switching. The company has become a key distribution layer for Raast, the State Bank of Pakistan’s instant payment rails. 1LINK has rolled out its 1GO Raast Person-to-Merchant (P2M) service, enabling merchants nationwide to accept instant digital payments through Raast using QR technology. This lets shopkeepers and small businesses accept digital payments directly into their bank accounts without expensive hardware, with customers paying instantly via Raast-supported mobile banking apps and wallets.
The new board inherits this growing Raast push at a critical moment. If you want to understand the wider debate around how Raast should be funded and grown, our earlier piece on Pakistan’s Raast subsidy model and merchant credit scoring covers the fault lines well.
Pakistan’s payments ambitions also extend well beyond domestic transfers. The State Bank of Pakistan has been actively promoting digital financial inclusion through its flagship Raast instant payment system and the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which targets a measurable shift in the ratio of digital to cash transactions across the economy.
A Freshly Designated PSO With New Muscle
The board change comes less than a year after 1LINK received a formal upgrade from its regulator. The State Bank of Pakistan officially notified 1LINK (Private) Limited as a Designated Payment System (DPS), effective August 20, 2025, under the powers of Section 4(1) of the Payment Systems and Electronic Funds Transfer Act, 2007. This recognition highlights the central role of 1LINK in Pakistan’s payment ecosystem, with a mandate to ensure integrity, stability, and interoperability of the country’s digital financial infrastructure, working closely with the SBP, financial institutions, and fintechs.
The DPS designation gives 1LINK formal systemic importance, similar to how a central clearing house is treated in more mature markets. The 1LINK new board now governs an entity that the central bank considers critical infrastructure, not just a shared utility. That raises the stakes for every decision the board makes.
What the Leadership Reset Could Mean
Coverage of this story has focused mostly on who joined. What most reports miss is the combination being assembled. Having the head of Pakistan’s largest private bank (HBL) and its most digitally active bank (Bank Alfalah) both represented at board level creates a natural engine for pushing faster adoption of new payment rails. Meanwhile, independent directors with tech and fintech backgrounds can push back against purely bank-centric thinking.
Since taking charge of 1LINK in 2016, CEO Najeeb Agrawalla has transformed the organisation into what he calls Pakistan’s de facto national switch, with a forecasted transactional throughput of PKR 75 trillion and a volume of almost 10 billion transactions for 2025. Managing growth at that scale demands a board that understands both banking stability and technology speed, and the new lineup appears designed with that tension in mind.
For ordinary Pakistanis, the practical upside could come in two forms. First, faster expansion of QR-based and Raast P2M payments to more small merchants. Second, continued improvements to ATM uptime and interoperability, issues that still frustrate users in smaller cities. CEO Najeeb Agrawalla expressed confidence in the board’s strategic guidance, as 1LINK continues to strengthen Pakistan’s national payments infrastructure and deliver greater value to the financial ecosystem.
You can read more about 1LINK’s official role and services at 1link.net.pk and learn about the regulatory framework at the State Bank of Pakistan’s website.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the 1LINK new board and when did it start?
The newly constituted board of directors held its first meeting on July 31, 2026, marking the commencement of the new board’s tenure and reaffirming 1LINK’s commitment to strong corporate governance, strategic leadership, and institutional excellence.
Who chairs the new 1LINK board?
Atif Bajwa, President and CEO of Bank Alfalah Limited, serves as Chairman of the Board. Other members include the heads of HBL and Faysal Bank, plus independent directors from the technology and fintech sectors.
What does 1LINK actually do?
1LINK acts as a digital bridge between different banks, allowing customers from one bank to access services from another, for example, using any ATM, sending money instantly, or paying bills online, all through a shared platform. It also runs Pakistan’s domestic card scheme, PayPak, and the 1GO Raast P2M QR payment service for merchants.
How does this board change affect Raast and digital payments?
The new board governs a company that is now the officially designated systemic payment operator of Pakistan. With bank CEOs and independent tech leaders at the table, decisions on expanding Raast P2M to more merchants, upgrading ATM infrastructure, and deepening financial inclusion will now carry the weight of some of Pakistan’s most influential banking names behind them.
