Government shifts pensioner life verification from banks to NADRA
Published · Updated
What happened
The government announced that commercial banks will no longer conduct biometric verification and proof-of-life validation for over three million civilian and military pensioners, and that NADRA will take over those functions.
Why it matters
The move changes the control point for a large recurring public payment system. In the next few days, ministries, pension offices, banks, and NADRA will need to align processes, data flows, and grievance handling to avoid payment delays and verification failures.
Pakistan's government revised pension disbursement procedures on September 10 by removing commercial banks from biometric verification and proof-of-life checks for more than three million civilian and military pensioners and assigning that function to NADRA. The change is an administrative and payments-control decision with immediate operational consequences for banks, pension administrators, and pensioners who must now authenticate through a different channel. The near-term issue is whether NADRA and paying agencies can execute the handover without missed payments, access bottlenecks, or gaps in fraud controls.
Watch for
NADRA circular or portal notice by 2026-09-14 setting the operating procedure for pensioner proof-of-life verification Finance Division or AGPR notification by 2026-09-14 on transition rules for pension payments due after the handover State Bank of Pakistan communication by 2026-09-14 instructing commercial banks on discontinued verification responsibilities and complaint routing No reported NADRA service-capacity extension or special counter arrangement by 2026-09-14 despite the transfer of more than three million pensioner validations