Cyber Security Capacity Building Training For Financial, Fintech Sectors Concludes

Aimed at strengthening cyber security resilience across Pakistan’s financial and fintech sectors, a two-day capacity-building training on the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) concluded on Friday

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 8th Aug, 2025) Aimed at strengthening cyber security resilience across Pakistan’s financial and fintech sectors, a two-day capacity-building training on the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) concluded on Friday.

The two-day training organized by the National Institute of Banking and Finance, Pakistan (NIBAF-Pakistan) in collaboration with Risk Associates on 7 and 8 August 2025 brought together cyber security professionals and representatives from leading banks and financial institutions, reflecting a shared commitment to securing financial data and building trust in digital payments, said a statement issued here.

The PCI DSS v4.0 program is focused on payment security architecture, cardholder data protection, and compliance life cycle management- critical pillars for institutions navigating the sophisticated threat landscape. Risk Associates, a globally recognized certification body and PCI Qualified Security Assessor (QSA), led the training with technical expertise and actionable insights on PCI DSS v4.0.

This pioneering initiative was made possible through the forward-looking vision of the State Bank of Pakistan, whose leadership continues to champion digital security across the country’s banking and payments ecosystem, it added.

The initiative signals a long-term commitment to building cyber security capability within Pakistan’s financial ecosystem, particularly in the fast-evolving fintech space. It also supports the country’s ambition to contribute skilled cyber security professionals to regional and global markets, especially across the Middle East and GCC financial hubs.

The Co CEO NIBAF-Pakistan, Lubna Malik, while sharing her thoughts on this occasion, noted that the training marks a major milestone in NIBAF-Pakistan’s commitment to enhancing the cyber security capabilities of banking professionals across Pakistan.

“By embedding international standards like PCI DSS into our learning framework, we are ensuring financial institutions are better prepared for today’s dynamic threat environment,” she noted.

The CEO Risk Associates, Dr. Aftab Rizvi, while commenting on the completion of the training program said that the collaboration with NIBAF-Pakistan marks a transformative moment for Pakistan’s cyber security landscape.

He added that by aligning with the State Bank of Pakistan’s vision, his organization is not only empowering financial institutions with global standards like PCI DSS but also fostering local expertise to meet international benchmarks.

As digital payment adoption accelerates, the standardized and resilient security frameworks like PCI DSS are essential to protect sensitive data and enable trust-driven growth. Building on this success, Risk Associates and NIBAF-P plan to expand their collaboration to include advanced training on cyber security governance, ISO/IEC 27001, and emerging threats shaping the financial sector.