GoldFin Offers
Hassle Free Gold Loan
CEO’s Message
It is truly fascinating to note that citizens of Pakistan, particularly from the middle and lower segments of society, hold approximately 1,820 tons of gold worth USD 100 billion in their personal savings (jewelry/ornaments/wafer bars). However, much of this gold lies idle as a “dead asset” in homes or bank lockers, or is mortgaged for high-priced credit in the informal markets.
A socio-financial analysis of this trend reveals that historically, jewelers and goldsmiths (“sonar”) were the primary financiers of urban retail and small businesses, while commission agents (“aharthies”) served the agricultural sector. These mechanisms provided working capital for urban and agricultural enterprises across the subcontinent for centuries. Notably, gold-backed credit in this context is distinct from the “pawning” concept known in other cultures, as it provides the finances to manage entrepreneurship. Despite the extensive reach of Pakistan’s banking system, a significant portion of these economic sectors still operates outside the formal credit framework.
The GoldFin team, during the raising phase of Tameer Microfinance Bank (now Telenor Microfinance Bank), refined the Gold-Backed Loan (GBL) model, which became a cornerstone of microfinance banking. Building on this expertise, GoldFin is dedicated to unlocking the value of citizens’ idle gold assets to improve their economic well-being through a strategic, multi-faceted approach:
- Aggregation Platform: Collaborate with banks and financial institutions (FIs) to develop secure GBL portfolios on their balance sheets while maintaining our own organic GBL operations.
- Empowering SMEs and Entrepreneurs: Provide credit access to SMEs, MSMEs, and individual entrepreneurs who lack documentation or acceptable collateral to qualify for formal bank loans.
- Gender Inclusion: Promote entrepreneurship among women, who often hold decision-making power over family gold. Develop subsidized products tailored for women to encourage financial independence and trend for entrepreneurship.
- Trust and Accessibility: Create a reliable and affordable alternative to high-priced informal credit markets. Develop secure, customer-centric mechanisms to deliver services, especially for women, at their doorsteps.
- Savings in Gold: Encourage micro-purchases of gold in collaboration with banks, enabling people to build their savings in gold-a deeply rooted cultural practice.
- Technology-Driven Solutions: Introduce technology-based gold assessments to equate jewelry with 24-karat gold and provide “Certificates of Value” for safekeeping. These certificates can be used to secure loans and potentially form the foundation of a national gold reserve.
- Financial Inclusion and Education: Support national financial inclusion goals by educating and improving customers’ credit standings, enabling them to transition to formal credit streams.
- Loyalty Programs: Develop loyalty programs for customers, focusing on women, to design tailored financial journeys and address their unsecured credit needs.
Although still in its formative phase, GoldFin is steadfastly committed to achieving these objectives through digitization and a customer-first approach. By refining transactional systems, we aim to integrate gold savings into the national savings framework, raising Pakistan’s current savings rate (10-11%) closer to the 25% benchmark of developed economies.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to our founders, who pooled their lifetime savings to establish GoldFin with the vision of creating a world-class company that serves the ordinary citizen. Additionally, we are deeply thankful to Insitor Asia Fund II for investing USD 2 million in GoldFin, providing the foundational capital to expand our market reach and strengthen our geographic presence.
Together, we strive to earn the trust of every household in Pakistan, becoming their lifelong financial partner and a catalyst for their economic progress.
