Fintech to Enhance Financial Inclusion in Pakistan

About 100 million Pakistani adults lacked access to formal and regulated financial services as of 2016, according to a World Bank report on financial inclusion.  Only 2.9% of adults in Pakistan had a debit card, and only 1% of adults used them to make payments. Just 1.4% of adults used an account to receive wages and 1.8% of adults used it to receive government transfers in 2014. Since then, Pakistan has been leading the way in South Asia in digital finance and branchless banking.

According to the latest State Bank statistics on branchless banking (BB) sector, mobile wallets reached a high of 33 million as of September 2017, up 21% over the prior quarter. About 22 percent of these accounts – 7.4 million – are owned by women, up 29% in July-September 2017 over previous quarter. A McKinsey and Co analysis shows that adoption of financial technology (fintech) can help dramatically increase financial inclusion in Pakistan.

Karandaaz Pakistan , a non-profit organization, set up jointly by UK’s Department for International Development and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is promoting financial technology in the country. Finja and Inov8 are among the better known fintech startups in the country. Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Ant Financial's recent entry in Pakistan is creating a lot of excitement in Pakistan's fintech community.

Financial and Digital Inclusion in Pakistan. Source: Brookings Institution

Importance of Financial Inclusion:

Access to regulated financial services for all is essential in today's economy. It allows people and businesses to come out of the shadows and  fully participate in the formal economy by saving, borrowing and investing.

Those who lack access to regulated banking services are often forced to resort to work with unscrupulous lenders who trap them in debt at unaffordable rates. Such loans in extreme cases lead to debt bondage in developing countries.

Financial inclusion is good for individuals and small and medium size businesses as well as the national economy. It spurs economic growth and helps document more of the economy to increase transparency.

Status of Financial Inclusion in Pakistan:

About 100 million Pakistani adults lacked access to formal and regulated financial services as of 2016, according to a World Bank report on financial inclusion.  Only 2.9% of adults in Pakistan had a debit card, and only 1% of adults used them to make payments. Just 1.4% of adults used an account to receive wages and 1.8% of adults used it to receive government transfers in 2014. Since then, Pakistan has been leading the way in South Asia in digital finance and branchless banking.

M-wallets Growth in Pakistan in millions. Source: Business Recorder

Mobile wallets, also called m-wallets, are smartphone applications linked to bank accounts that allow users to make payments for transactions such as retail purchases. According to recent State Bank statistics on branchless banking (BB) sector, mobile wallets reached a high of 33 million as of September 2017, up 21% over the prior quarter. About 22 percent of these accounts – 7.4 million – are owned by women, up 29% seen in Jul-Sep 2017 over previous quarter. Share of active m-wallets has also seen significant growth from a low of 35% in June 2015 to 45% in September 2017.

“The benefits of digital payments go well beyond the convenience many people in developed economies associate with the technology,” says Dr. Leora Klapper, Lead Economist at the World Bank Development Research Group. “Digital financial services lower the cost and increase the security of sending, paying and receiving money. The resulting increase in financial inclusion is also vital to women’s empowerment.”

A McKinsey and Co analysis shows that adoption of financial technology (fintech) can help dramatically increase financial inclusion in Pakistan. Pakistan is ranked 16th among 26 nations ranked by Brookings Institution with an overall score of 69% in "The State of Financial and Digital Inclusion Project Report" for 2017. The Internet revolution is enabling rapid growth of financial technology (fintech) for increasing financial inclusion in Pakistan.

A McKinsey Global Institute report titled "Digital Finance For All: Powering Inclusive Growth In Emerging Economies" projects that adoption of financial technology (fintech) in Pakistan will add  93 million bank accounts and $36 billion a year to the country's GDP by 2025.   It will also create 4 million new jobs and add $7 billion to the government coffers in this period.

McKinsey report says that "Pakistan has solid digital infrastructure and financial regulation in place and has even had some success in digital domestic-remittance payments".

Fintech Players in Pakistan:

There are a number of companies, including some startups, offering fintech applications for smartphones that are linked to bank accounts. EasyPaisa operated by Telenor Microfinance is already well established. Among some of the better known startups working to disrupt the financial services sector in Pakistan are Finja and Inov8.

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba runs a major global e-payments platform Alipay. It also owns Ant Financial which has recently announced the purchase of 45% stake in Pakistan-based Telenor Microfinance Bank.

Telenor Pakistan runs its own e-payments platform EasyPay which will likely link up with Alipay global payments platform after the close of the Ant Financial deal.   Bloomberg is also reporting that Alibaba is in serious talks to buy Daraz.pk, an online retailer in Pakistan. These developments are creating a lot of excitement in Pakistan's fintech and e-commerce communities.

Alibaba and Alipay and other similar platforms are expected to stimulate both domestic and international trade by empowering small and medium size Pakistani entrepreneurial businesses and large established enterprises.

Karandaaz Fintech Promotion:

A key player promoting financial inclusion is Karandaaz Pakistan , a non-profit organization, set up jointly by UK’s Department for International Development and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  It is providing grants for a number of local initiatives to develop and promote financial technology solutions in Pakistan.

Karandaaz Pakistan is promoting Fintech startups in  5 areas of focus:

1) Access to Financial services

Credit Scoring Models, Formalize savings through need based products, Digital lending services, and Insurance

2) Payments

Retail payments solutions through QR code,  Supply / Value Chain Digitization,  Ideas around digitization of online payments and merchant payments

3) E-Commerce

Smoothening of on-boarding process, Enabling Escrow Accounts for a retail merchant, Alternate payment modes other than COD

4) Interoperability

Innovative ideas to address the lack of interoperability among m-wallets

5) Early stage ideas related to:

 M-Wallet Use cases, Education of Financial Services through technology, Customer Engagement / Experience, Micro Credit, Digital Savings

Summary:

About 100 million Pakistani adults lacked access to formal and regulated financial services as of 2016, according to a World Bank report on financial inclusion.  Only 2.9% of adults in Pakistan have a debit card, and only 1% of adults use them to make payments. Just 1.4% of adults use an account to receive wages and 1.8% of adults use it to receive government transfers in 2014. At the same time, Pakistan is leading the way in South Asia in digital finance and branchless banking.

According to the latest State Bank statistics on branchless banking (BB) sector, m-wallets reached a high of 33 million as of September 2017, up 21% over the prior quarter. About 22 percent of these accounts – 7.4 million – are owned by women, up 29% seen in Jul-Sep 2017 over previous quarter. A McKinsey and Co analysis shows that adoption of financial technology (fintech) can help dramatically increase financial inclusion in Pakistan.

Karandaaz Pakistan , a non-profit organization, set up by UK’s Department for International Development and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is promoting financial technology in the country.  Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's Ant Financial's recent entry in Pakistan is creating a lot of excitement in the country's fintech community.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

South Asia Investor Review

Fintech Revolution in Pakistan

E-Commerce in Pakistan

The Other 99% of the Pakistan Story

FMCG Boom in Pakistan

Pakistan's Financial Services Sector

Bank Deposits Growth in Pakistan

Riaz Haq's Youtube Channel

Viewpoint From Overseas Channel 

Comments

Riaz Haq said…
Ant Financial is about to upend the entire Pakistani retail banking sector
‘There is ZERO realization of what is coming and how big this sea change will be

http://www.atimes.com/article/ant-financial-is-about-to-upend-the-entire-pakistani-retail-banking-sector/

anking in Pakistan has not, to put it diplomatically, reached its full potential. It is so inefficient, according to one industry insider, that more than 35 banks provide services to only about 12% of the population. But Omer Salimullah, a fintech specialist with Karachi-based JS Bank, wrote in a post last week that the days are numbered for this sorry state of affairs, and China’s Ant Financial will be the catalyst.

The Alibaba subsidiary took the plunge into the Pakistani financial services market with an acquisition earlier this month, looking to tap into the potential of around 100 million un-banked individuals. Ant Financial’s acquisition of Telenor Microfinance Bank for the sum of US$185 million is “a VERY big deal,” Salimulla emphasized. “As a comparison, 100% of RBS Pakistan was sold to Faysal Bank for US$ 50 million. Please note that Ant has not valued a Pakistani micro finance bank at US$ 410 million. What they have valued is the almost complete takeover of the retail financial services market from incumbent banks,” he said.

Ant’s partnership with Telenor’s mobile banking brand, Easypaisa, is going to transform banking services in the country, and synergy with a possible acquisition of Pakistan’s largest e-commerce player Daraz, will expand the ecosystem even further. The Chinese fintech giant stands to swallow up a huge chunk of the youth an un-banked market, according to Salimulla, and many small to mid-sized banks will not survive the next several years.

“There is too much old-world thinking in corridors of powers in banks. There is ZERO realization of what is coming and how big this sea change will be,” he warned.
Riaz Haq said…
How Ant Financial Will Completely Change the Pakistani Retail Banking Landscape

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-ant-financial-completely-change-pakistani-retail-omer-salimullah/?trk=eml-email_feed_ecosystem_digest_01-recommended_articles-6-Unknown&midToken=AQG4-FJ6lIvEmQ&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=33KMcFs0XpJUc1

Banking in Pakistan is an extremely in-efficient industry where 35+ banks have only been able to bank 25 million Pakistanis in the last 70 odd years. This means that as an industry, banks are providing their services to only 12% of the population. The branchless banking industry has not fared much better either with only 35 million wallets out of which 50% are inactive (no activity in the past 3 months). This is a sorry state of affairs by any yardstick. In the new world, wherever there has been inefficiency in an industry, it has been disrupted – big time! Uber, Didichuxing, Careem, Grab have decimated the taxi industry worldwide. AirBnB has dented the hotel industry significantly to the extent that Airbnb is now bigger than the world's top five hotel brands put together. PayTM in India (Ant owns more than 50% of Paytm and has injected close to US$ 1 billion into this company) has now become the biggest financial firm in India, in less than five years. and plans to become the world's largest digital bank with 500 million account holders. With all the inefficiencies found in it's midst, the retail banking industry in Pakistan is a prime candidate for this type of massive disruption.

In this backdrop comes the Ant Financial Services Group (“Ant Financial”), established by Alibaba Group and its founder Jack Ma acquisition of 45% of Telenor Microfinance Bank (TMB) for US$ 185 million at a total post money valuation of US$ 410 million. Make no bones about it - this is a VERY big deal. As a comparison, 100% of RBS Pakistan was sold to Faysal Bank for US$ 50 million. Please note that Ant has not valued a Pakistani micro finance bank at US$ 410 million. What they have valued is the almost complete takeover of the retail financial services market from incumbent banks. They realize that Pakistan is one of the most in-efficient banking markets in the world and it will be simple to take every last morsel of the retail banking pie from banks. The market potential of some 100 million un-banked individuals is a mouth-watering prospect for Ant.

How Will “Ant Paisa Bank” Take Over Retail Banking in Pakistan?

Go big on QR: Ant will introduce Alipay (or a local variant) here in Pakistan. This will be their big play to capture a huge chunk of retails payments which are currently happening in cash. QR uptake has been slow in Pakistan where only small players like FonePay are pushing it. With the financial & marketing muscle that Ant brings, they will make QR payments common with incentives on both the merchant and customer side.

- Digital Lending: This will be the secret sauce which finally tips the scale for digitization payments in Pakistan. Consumer lending via Ant has reached $95 billion in China and Paytm in India launched Paytm Score in February which they will use to lend to users of their platform. Our biggest hurdle in digitizing cash payments has been the reluctance of users (especially merchants) to document their cash flow fearing tax implications. In a country where less than 1% of the population pays tax, this has always been the biggest impediment in digitizing payments. However, once the conversation switches to these merchants receiving funding/loans from Ant based on their throughput via Ant channels (i.e. giving loans to small businesses for purchasing goods from Ali Baba), they will be more than happy to roll the transaction through digital channels.

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Riaz Haq said…
How Ant Financial Will Completely Change the Pakistani Retail Banking Landscape

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-ant-financial-completely-change-pakistani-retail-omer-salimullah/?trk=eml-email_feed_ecosystem_digest_01-recommended_articles-6-Unknown&midToken=AQG4-FJ6lIvEmQ&fromEmail=fromEmail&ut=33KMcFs0XpJUc1

Technology Stack: In a recent interview post the Ant investment, Shahid Mustafa, CEO of Telenor Bank said “….there’s a sunset date for the current technology and that’s when we will look to upgrade the back-end technology”. With all the financial clout that Ant will bring, the thing that will break the proverbial camel’s back (the camel being the Pakistani financial industry) will be the tech prowess that Ant will introduce in Pakistan. MIT Tech Review published an article with the headline “Meet the Chinese Finance Giant That’s Secretly an AI Company” referring to Ant’s AI, computer vision and natural language processing capabilities. This is how important AI is to Ant. Last year the company acquired EyeVerify, a U.S. company that makes eye recognition software. Ant will bring AI powered payments, lending, insurance, and anti-fraud capabilities to Pakistan and completely transform the way financial services are delivered. Think Instant and Frictionless.

- Amazing User Experiences: The news of Ant buying Daraz, the largest e-commerce player in Pakistan, has been doing the round for quite some time. If this deal goes through, Ant will bring it’s world class e-commerce expertise via Ali Baba to Pakistan. Digital payments has always been a challenge for e-commerce in Pakistan. Having both the payment and e-comm side under its control, Ant can make a huge dent into both these fledgling areas. Imagine being offered an AI-powered personalized & instant loan on shopping done on Daraz. Imagine being able to file an insurance claim for a car accident where all you need to do is take a picture of the accident and Ant’s AI image processing engine will finalize the findings in seconds. Imagine bots talking to Pakistanis in any regional language to handle customer service or conduct transactions (voice will remove the last block in making digitization widespread in Pakistan where lack of education prevents reading and writing based solutions to gain traction)

Why Does This Matter to Existing Banks?

With the marketing and tech muscle that Ant will bring into Pakistan, the next 24 months are going to be critical for small to mid-sized banks. Easypaisa is a brand that resonates both with the un-banked and the youth. These markets are major growth areas for banks going forward and if these are taken away by Easypaisa due to providing delightful user experiences, the oxygen will be sucked out of this industry. Expect to see a LOT of mergers among the incumbent banks. The big-5 may survive due to their corporate and treasury business but the mid to small sized banks will go under water due to the coming tsunami. It may seem that I may be overstating the threat but this is not the case. There is a high level of digital illiteracy on the management boards of Pakistani banks and the average age of C-level suites in banks is 50+. There is too much old-world thinking in corridors of powers in banks. There is ZERO realization of what is coming and how big this sea change will be.

What Can Existing Banks Do?
Are we looking to help banks that charge customers an average of PKR 50 for an Interbank Fund Transfer (IBFT) transaction (some are charging more than PKR 150) while giving out free checkbooks? Most banks think they’ve become digital because they’ve rolled out a mobile app. All the other important areas like account opening, lending, payments continue the way they were implemented in the mid-90s. This is not digital. And no Head of Digital Transformation or a Head of Innovation can convert a dinosaur into an agile cheetah. Transforming an organisation is next to impossible due to legacy systems and legacy mindsets (Nokia and Kodak couldn't do it).
Riaz Haq said…
#PTI's 14-Point for #Digital #Pakistan. #Elections2018 #ImranKhan https://www.techjuice.pk/pti-unveils-digital-policy-naya-pakistan/ PTI’s 14 Points for Digital Pakistan:
$2 billion set aside for National digital transformations & provision of different services to citizens through mobile.
Using technology to open government data to increase transparency
IT education of 50,000 students
Establishment of 120 new campuses to produce 100,000 technology graduates/year
Mathematics and Science teacher training and certification program
Five new major technology clusters (Special Economic Zones)
A focus will be on creating enabling environment for start-ups and entrepreneurs.
50,000 call center seats available on a turn-key basis
One window operation to register a new company
A global PR campaign involving expat community
Visa issuance on green passport for Businessmen and professionals
Simplification of processes for foreign ownership of companies
Public-Private Partnership on projects
Target will be set to increase the global ranking of Pakistan in ease of doing business
Riaz Haq said…
#Technology firms Avanza Group & Premier Systems announce investment of $5 million in the #payment #gateway to connect individuals with merchants and banks via joint venture as Avanza Premier Payment Services (APPS) in #Pakistan #mobilepayments #ecommerce https://www.techjuice.pk/two-technology-firms-to-establish-online-payment-gateway-in-pakistan/

Two technology groups in Pakistan have collaborated to develop a local online payment gateway system to take a share in the growing e-commerce market of Pakistan.

Avanza Group and Premier Systems announced to invest over $5 million in the gateway which is aimed to connect individuals with merchants and banks. According to sources, the two companies will set up the joint venture as Avanza Premier Payment Services (APPS).
Mahmood Kapurwala, CEO of Avanza Group said, “the size of Pakistan’s e-commerce market is estimated to be $1 billion, which should be $30-$40 billion in a country with a population of 207 million.’ He also partnered with NCR, Avaya, Microsoft, and IBM. He added, “We are looking at this gap as an opportunity.”

APPS claims to be the first Financial Technology (fintech) in the country to obtain payment system provider (PSP) and payment system operator (PSO) licenses from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). According to McKinsey and Company, a worldwide management consulting firm, Fintech will add about 4 million jobs, 93 million bank accounts and $36 billion annually to the gross national product (GNP), and $7 billion to the government’s net revenue by 2025.

The newly-founded company plans to incentivize brick and mortar businesses with free online services, like building websites and digital marketing. It will only take a certain share in the profit that comes through online businesses. Adnan Ali, CEO, APPS said: “It will move Pakistan towards digitizing major institutions, such as merchants, schools, billing industries, mutual funds and other corporate entities by providing a digital gateway.”

Avanza Group CEO said, Increase in e-commerce acceptance will also help grow the overall retail market when people will have the choice to buy products present in other cities, He said, “If everything remains on track, earning a revenue of Rs400 million will not be a big deal.”
Riaz Haq said…
‘Alipay to start operations in #Pakistan by end of 2018’.
#Alipay seeking approval from State Bank of Pakistan to pave the way for international payment gateways to enter in Pakistan. #payments #Alibaba #ecommerce https://tribune.com.pk/story/1780902/2-alipay-start-operations-pakistan-end-2018/

Alipay, the China-based third party mobile and online payments platform, will start operations in Pakistan by the end of this year, according to Irfan Wahab Khan, the Telenor chief executive officer.

Khan is also a board member of the Telenor Microfinance Bank in which Ant Financial, the parent company of Alipay and the financial services affiliate of Alibaba, acquired a 45% stake at an investment of $184.5 million in March 2018.

Currently, Ant Financial is in the process of taking approval from relevant authorities such as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) to commence financial services in the country.

As Pakistan embraces digital technology after the spectrum auction that saw the arrival of 3G/4G services in the country, a payments solution was the need of the hour. While mobile phone infrastructure and service penetrate 72% of the population, according to the latest data available with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), future growth will rely on digital payments becoming more accessible.

Khan agreed that the opportunity exists.

“The opportunity exists in data, digital payments and e-commerce,” Khan told The Express Tribune.

Pakistan has 58 million broadband subscribers including 56 million 3G/4G subscribers. Its e-commerce market is estimated at $1 billion, and gaining momentum.

Recently, Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce giant, acquired Daraz.pk from venture capital company Rocket Internet, and is tipped to be expanding its footprint in the country.

Its financial muscle and experience will help it against competition that includes the likes of PayPak of 1link, Fonepay, and Avanza Premier Payment Services (APPS) that have also entered the digital payments space with investments to the tune of millions of dollars.

Telenor – with its network and infrastructure – is also looking at the next growth segment as mobile broadband penetration slows down in the next five years.

Additionally, as users opt for over-the-top applications that bypass the traditional calls-receiving and calls-making processes, cellular mobile operators (CMOs) are now eyeing growth in the digital payments segment.

“We are putting a site an hour on 4G and will complete 80% of them by the end of this year,” said Khan, who took over as CEO Telenor Pakistan on August 1, 2016.

Mobile payment firms struggle to dethrone cash in Southeast Asia

Telenor is currently placed second as the CMO with the highest number of subscribers. It has 43 million subscribers after Jazz, which is the market leader with 55 million.

Telenor also has a 23% market share in the Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS) market, which puts in third place after Jazz (34%) and Zong (29%).

On the other hand, Telenor also invested in an agriculture sector-related app, ‘Khushhal Zameendar’, which provides location-specific weather forecast and agronomic advisory to small-scale farmers.

“It’s about incentive. Customers are sensible to adopt new technology when it offers incentives to them,” Khan said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 15th, 2018.
Riaz Haq said…
SBP to increase financial inclusion of SMEs to 17pc

https://pakobserver.net/sbp-to-increase-financial-inclusion-of-smes-to-17pc/


Assistant Chief Manager, SBP’s Banking Services Corporation, Ms. Rabia Yaqoob Khan gave a detailed presentation to the business community on financing schemes of SBP for SMEs.
Rabia Yaqoob Khan said that only six percent SMEs were currently availing loans from banks despite the fact that 40 percent of them have relationship with banks. She said that SBP has set target of increasing financial inclusion of SMEs from current 6 to 8 percent to 17 percent by 2020 so that these businesses could achieve better growth and development.
Assistant Chief Manager, SBP’s Banking Services Corporation said that SBP has launched 9 financing schemes for SMEs at 6 percent markup to facilitate them expansion and growth. She said that for this purpose, regulatory framework and taxation system would be simplified for SMEs.
She said that the incumbent government was taking keen interest in promoting SMEs and hoped that maximum SMEs should avail these schemes for fast growth and development.
In his welcome address, Senior Vice President ICCI, Muhammad Naveed Malik said that SMEs were the backbone of our economy as they constituted over 90 percent of total business enterprises in Pakistan. He said SMEs contributed 30 percent to GDP, 25 percent to exports and 78 percent to industrial employment that showed their important role in the economic development of the country.
The SVP ICCI said the tough collateral conditions of banks were the major hurdle for SMEs growth and urged that SBP should ask banks to offer soft term credit facility to SMEs that would help them to grow fast and play effective role in strengthening the economy.
Vice President ICCI Nisar Mirza said that strengthening SMEs would yield multiple benefits for the economy as it would promote trade and industrial activities, enhance exports, encourage investment, create more jobs and increase tax revenue of the government. He emphasized that government should pay special attention to promoting SMEs that would pave way for sustainable development of the economy.
Sardar Tahir, President, Islamabad Estate Agents Association, Zahid Rafiq General Secretary, Ch. Nadeem, Khalid Chaudhry, Dildar Abbasi, Muhammad Faheem Khan and others were present at the occasion.—INP
Riaz Haq said…
Technology Can Address Problems Plaguing Pakistan Economy By Henny Sender, Financial Times

#Technology can address problems plaguing #Pakistan #economy. #Investments by #China’s #Alibaba and promise of local start-ups highlight potential for innovation. #startups #ecommerce #fintech #exports #trade https://www.ft.com/content/6f2633d4-e7f9-11e8-8a85-04b8afea6ea3 via @financialtimes

In May Alibaba bought Daraz, the biggest local e-commerce platform in Pakistan, from Germany’s Rocket Internet for about $200m. By joining the platform, smaller manufacturers can reach new customers in China. Already the site has 6m registered buyers and thousands of sellers. Two months earlier, Alibaba’s Ant Financial paid $185m for a 45 per cent stake in Telenor Microfinance Bank — a deal that promises to improve financial inclusion and support small businesses in Pakistan......Shahid Mustafa, Telenor’s chief executive, says: “In five years we will be the largest tech company in Pakistan.”...... Already Telenor, which says it has 75,000 agents and 176 branches across the country, has recruited thousands of software engineers. At an incubator on the outskirts of Karachi, young companies are addressing even more daunting problems.......Muhammad Khurram founded Aqua Agro, which specialises in smart irrigation. Mr Khurram estimates that farmers who use his smart devices need half as much water, yet they increase yields of crops such as lemons by 30 per cent. He is also using crowdfunding to raise money.
At the same time, another member of the same incubator, Fatima Anisha, has devised a technique to treat organic waste and turn it into fertiliser which improves yields without using harmful chemicals......While the efforts of the country’s start-ups are in many cases modest, they offer a vision of how the country — often with help from bigger Chinese technology groups — could start to find solutions.
Riaz Haq said…
Fintech Factory, Pakistan’s first and only financial technology focused accelerator program in collaboration with TPS, Sybrid, Rapidcompute, JS Bank & Takaful Pakistan, is progressing towards Karandaaz’s 3rd Fintech Disrupt Challenge finale. Karandaaz, Pakistan’s leading promoter of financial inclusion and associated technology, partnered with Fintech Factory to induct selected applicants for FDC III (2018) into the accelerator program and help them reach a market-tested scalable MVP for the challenge.

Fintech Factory’s unique financial technology accelerator program takes startups with market validation and offers them access to state-of-the-art workspace, industry-leading mentors, skillset development through personalized training, and networking opportunities. The program aims to develop the ecosystem in a self-sustaining manner to catalyze innovation in the fintech space to reduce the digital divide and improve the lives of Pakistanis.

https://www.techjuice.pk/7-trainees-from-pakistans-first-fintech-accelerator-to-participate-in-karandaazs-3rd-fintech-disrupt-challenge-finale/
Riaz Haq said…
#Legacy #banks #payment platform fights back. #Swift takes on #fintechs with new faster, more efficient system. SWIFT platform is now owned by 2,500 banks and is used to move more than $200 billion around the world daily. #blockchain https://www.ft.com/content/05d41660-f7c8-11e8-af46-2022a0b02a6c via @financialtimes


Legacy payments platform Swift is piloting a new system to speed up banks’ cross-border transfers and reduce errors, firing a shot across the bow of a blockchain-based project that claims to do the same thing and payments fintechs that offer cheaper, faster services.

Founded in 1973, Swift was banks’ original answer to the question of how to move money around the world more quickly and easily. The platform is now owned by 2,500 banks and is used to shift more than $200bn around the world daily.

Inefficiencies, however, have left the platform ripe for competition from payments start-ups such as Revolut and TransferWise, as well as the Interbank Information Network (IIN). More than 130 banks, led by JPMorgan Chase, have signed on to the blockchain-based IIN project, which shares information between banks on a mutual distributed ledger. That allows them to quickly resolve errors and compliance issues that can delay payments by weeks.

In a testament to how banks are hedging their bets on the future of payments, several of those banks are now part of a pilot for Swift’s own fix for lengthy payment delays — — a new “prevalidation” system in which banks use an application programming interface (API) to access each other’s data to check things such as the validity of bank account numbers when a payment is initiated.

Under the blockchain-based system information is shared on a mutually distributed ledger hosted on the cloud that can be accessed and edited by all participants in real time. The API system, by contrast, allows banks to access each other’s data on a bilateral basis, ensuring the recipient’s account information is correct before it is sent in an effort to reduce delays.

“We know that there are still some payments which are badly formatted and missing some information,” said Luc Meurant, chief marketing officer of Swift. “Instead of correcting that later in the chain and delaying payment, we are trying to anticipate as many of those issues as possible (with prevalidation) so payments can be processed faster.”

Swift estimated that around 10 per cent of all payments on its platform were held up because of errors. Manish Kohli, global head of payments and receivables at Citi, said the new system would “considerably reduce” the costs banks incur to resolve problematic payments and would improve customer experiences. That would “absolutely” allow banks to cut pricing and compete more effectively with fintechs, he added.

Mr Meurant said that while the solution was going after “exactly the same kind of issues” as IIN, Swift’s fix was superior because its angle is “one of scale and industrialisation” and the solution could be rolled out to Swift’s 10,000-plus members relatively quickly.


JPMorgan Chase has been the leading voice on the IIN, but is also one of the 15 banks taking part in the Swift pilot. A spokesman declined to comment on the relative merits of the two projects and JPMorgan’s decision to back both.

Mr Kohli said his bank, which has not joined the IIN, believed the Swift solution was more viable because APIs were already widely used within banks in applications such as sharing customer data to give people an aggregate view of their accounts in one place.

“We felt this would be faster to scale,” said Mr Kohli, adding that payments solutions only really work if they are ubiquitous.

He pointed to Swift’s success in introducing its global payments innovation (GPI) as evidence that it can achieve quick adoption. GPI, which allowed payments to be tracked end to end and introduced transparency on fees, was introduced more than a year ago and is being used in more than 50 per cent of Swift’s payments. It will be used exclusively by 2020 by users of the Swift network.
Riaz Haq said…
#Alibaba's #Alipay's entry to tap great potential of #Pakistan #ecommerce market. US$184 million investment to expedite mass adoption of digital #payments in Pakistan. #Internet penetration rising with estimated 60 million subscribers of 3G and 4G. https://on.china.cn/2EO9fAc

Alipay, a subsidiary of Hangzhou-based Ant Financial, has been cleared by the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) to acquire a 45 percent stake in Pakistan's Telenor Microfinance Bank.

The investment of over US$184 million will expedite widespread adoption of digital payments in Pakistan. With internet penetration continuously on the rise, there are an estimated 60 million subscribers of 3G and 4G in the country that can become potential users of the service.

Several mobile payment services are presently operating in Pakistan. Primarily, these have been offered by telecom operators with a large number of cellular subscribers. However, limited international application has kept the penetration rate of the payment portals relatively low. Entry of Alipay, the world's largest mobile payment platform, will intensify competition higher, improve the quality of service and reinvigorate the entire landscape of the industry.

Pakistan's growing young population makes it suitable for embracing cashless payments on a large scale. People under the age of 30 form 64 percent of the population who are always the most likely to take up any new technology. On top of that, high cellular phone use will be a facilitative factor, since the mobile-first strategy for internet-based businesses is very valid in Pakistan.

Commencement of Alipay's operations in Pakistan will also provide a major push to e-commerce. eBay CEO Devin Wenig recently identified emerging economies like Pakistan as the fastest growing e-commerce hubs of the world. The trend is spreading like wildfire across the country with new online shops emerging constantly. A reliable e-payment gateway with worldwide collaborators is all that Pakistanis need to streamline their online transactions.

Alibaba had already acquired Pakistan's leading e-commerce platform Daraz. Utilizing the reach of Alibaba, Pakistani sellers will now be able to connect with global buyer.

The digital payment boom will be most beneficial for small and medium-sized enterprises that form the backbone of the national economy. Many of these businesses face difficulties in financial transactions due to being located in rural areas. Alipay might prefer to focus on them as the Pakistani government wants to reduce their business costs and difficulties.

Across the border in China, a new policy is on the cards to increase e-commerce purchases from overseas. Around 63 additional categories are being added to a product list of what can be imported duty-free through online platforms. Moreover, 22 cities, such as Beijing, Nanjing and Shenyang, are also being included in e-commerce pilot zones.

With several food items in the revised e-commerce import list, there is much potential for Pakistani farm produce. Fruits like mango and the mandarin hybrid kinnow can gain extended reach in the Chinese food market and the recent push to increase meat and poultry production could further boost Pakistan's exports.

The targeted online shoppers in China are increasingly focusing on foreign brands. Large businesses and premium brands from Pakistan can reach out to these buyers through Tmall Global – another Alibaba operated e-commerce platform allowing Chinese consumers to purchase products from abroad. Pakistan's small to medium businesses might not have the logistic prerequisites for this platform, but international-standard large companies certainly can.

Ant Financial is coming to Pakistan at a time when trade between Pakistan and China is touching new heights through the flagship project of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) known as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan's Woman-Led Startup Tez #FinTech Wins Visa Everywhere Initiative Women’s Global Edition After Worldwide Search. Tez is first fully #digital financial institution in Pakistan providing #financialservices to unbanked/underbanked via smartphone apps https://www.fltimes.com/business/national/tez-financial-services-and-green-girls-organization-selected-as-winners/article_189b9976-9b6a-5057-a376-6aba79b44f4b.html

The FinTech competition measured how applicants leveraged their companies’ unique ability to solve or transform consumer and/or commercial payment experiences locally, regionally or globally. The FinTech winner Tez Financial Services from Pakistan, represented by Naureen Hyat, is the first fully digital financial institution in Pakistan providing frictionless financial services to the unbanked and under-banked via a smartphone application.

“The Visa Everywhere Initiative has been a remarkable opportunity for Tez, Pakistan and our cause to enhance financial inclusion,” said Naureen Hyat, Co-founder and Business Head of Tez Financial Services. “It has not only served as a driver for growth but has also allowed us to tap into the connectivity and numerous partners at Visa. I’m honored to be a part of such a thriving group of women entrepreneurs. All of these finalists have already achieved so much – I’m excited to continue to be a witness to our growth collectively beyond this competition.”

The Social Impact Challenge sought women-led businesses around the world who are supporting sustainable and inclusive livelihoods and strengthening their local or regional economies. The Social Impact winner Green Girls Organization from Cameroon, represented by Monique Ntumngia, is a non-governmental organization that trains women and girls to harvest and create renewable energy from the sun and bio-waste.

“This opportunity will allow Green Girls to reach more women and girls and expand our footprint to provide renewable energy,” said Monique Ntumngia, Founder of Green Girls Organization. “Visa’s network and support will not only help my organization scale but will provide a number of rural African communities sustainable energy sources from the sun and bio-waste – creating a ripple effect of impact.”

In addition to Green Girls and Tez, the following entrepreneurs competed for the two top prizes:

FinTech Finalists:

WeCashUp of France, represented by Annicelle Kungne, is the largest Pan African payment gateway that enables eCommerce companies to accept mobile money, cash and cards online in 36 African countries.
Papaya Global of Europe, represented by Eynat Guez, is a SaaS platform that supports total workforce management (payroll, PEO, and contractor management) along with benefits and a full cross-border payments solution in over 100 countries.
DinDin of Latin America, represented by Stéphanie Fleury, provides basic financial services to the unbanked and underbanked individuals and businesses in Brazil, through their app, web-based internet banking and API platforms. Their goal is to promote financial inclusion to more than 115 million people through their B2B2C financial ecosystem.
PoshVine of Asia Pacific, represented by Garima Satija, helps financial services organizations increase customer loyalty and share of spends through contextual, personalized perks and rewards administration. They are building a coalition customer loyalty program through their network of more than 15,000 merchant partners whereby users can earn and easily redeem points using linked debit or credit cards.
Alloy of North America, represented by Laura Spiekerman, provides real-time identity and risk decisioning for financial services, including KYC/AML and fraud checks.
Riaz Haq said…
Tez Financial Services Becomes the First #Pakistani #Startup to Raise $1.1 Million in Seed Round Led by #Ebay founder's Omidyar Network. #fintech #Pakistan #technology https://prn.to/2XiruCC



KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tez Financial Services, the first fully digital Non-Bank Microfinance Company (NBMFC) in Pakistan, today announced that it has raised USD$1.1 million in a seed round led by Omidyar Network, the impact investment firm established by Pierre Omidyar, the founder of eBay. Other investors on this round include Accion Venture Lab, the seed-stage investment initiative of global nonprofit Accion, and Planet N. Funds will help the company build its credit portfolio, enhance its mobile technology platform, and secure the company's NBMFC license.

You can learn more about the challenge, opportunity, and impact in this video.

"Our aim is to become the primary financial service provider for the unbanked and underbanked in Pakistan," said Nadeem Hussain, co-founder and CEO of Tez, who has more than 30 years of experience in the global financial services industry. "Tez delivers a seamless experience for our customers, providing loans in under 15 minutes as opposed to the usual month timeline from local commercial banks. Soon, we will be able to process life and health insurance claims in a similar timeframe."

In Pakistan, more than 50 percent of the population is unbanked, with only 23 percent of the population served by formal channels, and another 24 percent by informal channels, according to the World Bank. Despite the fact that the country has 43 banks, low penetration of formal financial services including credit (14%), savings (12%), and insurance (2%) is persistent.

Most unbanked and underbanked consumers use a variety of informal financial tools to manage their finances, but those can be unreliable, expensive, and inefficient. With more than one-third of the population living below the poverty line, minor fluctuations in income can raise significant short-term financing needs. That can mean the difference between paying a bill at the end of the month, such as tuition, or buying groceries.

Mobile phones are changing all of that. The GSMA estimates that in two years, more than 80 percent of Pakistan will have 3G/4G coverage. The country already boasts 28 million mobile accounts—an indicator of consumers' readiness to adopt digital financial services, especially in remote areas not served by traditional banking.

"New technologies, higher smartphone penetration, and falling data costs are fueling a great momentum for financial inclusion in frontier markets such as Pakistan. Tez is leveraging this to push the boundaries of banking in the country with an all-digital offering," said Kabir Kumar, head of Policy and Ecosystem Building at Omidyar Network. "Tez's diverse team is also well-positioned to bring about the products and services that really speak to the next generation of consumers in that country."

"Tez marks our first investment in Pakistan, a country with a significant need for innovative products that can bring its population into the formal financial system," said Michael Schlein, President and CEO of Accion. "By supporting Tez's all-digital model, we can help make an important difference for millions of underserved Pakistani families and businesses."

Tez uses some of the latest technologies, such as artificial intelligence, to analyze consumers' digital footprint trends, social behavior, and consumption patterns in order to customize its offerings to meet each individual's needs through an all-encompassing, easy to use app, as follows:
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistani startup Tez Financial Services wins at Inclusive Fintech50

https://www.samaa.tv/technology/2019/06/pakistani-startup-tez-financial-services-wins-at-inclusive-fintech50/

Pakistani fintech startup Tez Financial Services has been selected as one of the winners of 2019’s Inclusive Fintech 50. Tez was the only Pakistani startup to have qualified for the competition, reported Clarity.pk.

The winners of Inclusive Fintech 50 were announced on June 17 by the MetLife Foundation and Visa Inc, with global nonprofit Accion and World Bank Group member IFC. The competition was launched in February.

Inclusive Fintech 50 is a competition to help early-stage fintech companies attract capital and resources to benefit the world’s three billion financially underprivileged people.

Tez Financial Services is the first fully digital Non-Bank Microfinance Company focused on serving the unbanked and underbanked in Pakistan.

The founders of Tez were leading forces in the creation of Tameer Bank, Easypaisa, and CheckIn Solutions.
Riaz Haq said…
The share of cash payments worldwide is falling rapidly, from 89% in 2013 to 77% today


High internet use and state support help countries ditch cash
Even within the rich world, the most digitised societies use cash least often

https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/08/01/high-internet-use-and-state-support-help-countries-ditch-cash

On july 27th, outside Brooklyn’s hipper-than-thou Smorgasburg street-food market, a dozen hungry visitors stand idle amid the barbecue fumes. Rather than queuing for food, they are waiting at a cash machine. Yet inside the market, vendors are trying to wean their customers off cash. Gourmets who use Apple Pay, a mobile-payment service, receive hefty discounts on their purchases. “Apple pays us the difference,” one trader explains.

Most transactions around the world are still conducted in cash. However, its share is falling rapidly, from 89% in 2013 to 77% today. Despite the attention paid to mobile banking in emerging markets, it is rich countries, with high financial inclusion and small informal economies, that have led the trend. Within the rich world, more-digitised societies tend to make fewer cash payments. In Nordic countries like Norway and Denmark, where 97% of people use the internet, around four out of five transactions were already cashless by 2016, according to a recent review chaired by Huw van Steenis of the Bank of England. In contrast, internet penetration in Italy is just 61%, and 85% of transactions there were still handled in cash in 2016.
Riaz Haq said…
Accion Venture Lab closes $33 million to invest in inclusive #fintech #startups. Tahira Dosani, MD of Accion Venture Lab, said that their investments are global with a focus on emerging markets investing in #UAE, #Pakistan, #MENA.
https://www.menabytes.com/accion-venture-lab-33-million/ via @MENAbytes

Accion Venture Lab has emerged as a leader in fintech impact investing by investing in tens of fintech startups around the world including Now Money from the United Arab Emirates and Tez from Pakistan. According to its statement, for every dollar Accion Venture Lab has invested, its portfolio companies have raised an additional $13 in equity capital from later-stage investors.

Tahira Dosani, the Managing Director of Accion Venture Lab, in a conversation with MENAbytes, said that their investments are global with a focus on emerging markets, adding that they have plans to continue investing in UAE, Pakistan, and other markets in the Middle East & North Africa.
Washington-based Accion Venture Lab, according to the statement, is typically the first institutional investor in its portfolio companies, providing both capital and extensive strategic and operational support across a broad range of functional areas.

Tahira, speaking to MENAbytes said that they invest in early-stage startups (with average cheque size of USD 500,000) that are leveraging technology or innovation to improve the reach, quality, and affordability of financial services for low-income and underserved individuals and small businesses, “Our initial investment in a startup is always at the seed stage, but we will follow-on in A and B rounds in companies we have invested in.”

Speaking about their portfolio companies (Now Money and Tez) in MENA & Pakistan, Tahira added, “We see a lot of potential in both these businesses. Tez provides consumer credit in Pakistan to individuals who struggle to access credit through other formal means. The loans Tez provides are critical for income smoothing and day-to-day management for their customers. NOW Money serves migrant workers in the UAE, providing them with a digital bank account, debit card, and the ability to send remittances digitally and quickly back to their families. We expect both of them to see continued growth over the coming years.”

“We’re seeing substantial growth in the amount of investment capital available for fintech startups from what we saw when Accion Venture Lab launched in 2012, but money isn’t enough,” said Venture Lab Managing Director Tahira Dosani. “Capital must be paired with strategic and operational support that is informed by a deep knowledge of the sector, target customer, and a deliberate focus on how new technologies can help the underserved build better lives. We can accelerate the growth trajectories of companies through our capital plus approach to investing.”

Michael Schlein, President and CEO of Accion, commenting on the occasion, said, “Despite progress, three billion people still have no safe or simple way to save money, get a loan to build a business, pay a bill, or protect their health and property with insurance. Fintech startups are finding new ways to provide products and services that help these underserved people. Yet often startups lack the capital and strategic support they need to grow and scale their impact. Accion Venture Lab addresses this need.”

Accion Venture Lab’s portfolio companies, according to the statement, offer potential to reach underserved communities by building solutions around insurtech, agricultural finance, digital lending, and personal financial management, ultimately supporting entrepreneurship, resilience in farming, gig economy and migrant workers, healthcare, transportation, and education.
Monis R. said…
What exactly is this Faysal Bank partnership with Ripple?
Riaz Haq said…
Monis: "What exactly is this Faysal Bank partnership with Ripple?"

I think Faysal Bank is using Ripple's platform for interbank cross-border money transfers. Several American and European Banks amd money transfer companies like MoneyGram have also signed up to use Ripple technology.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-banking-giant-pnc-starts-using-ripplenet-for-cross-border-payments

PNC — the United States’ eighth-largest bank, with almost $400 billion in assets — has become the country’s first to start using the RippleNet blockchain network for cross-border payments.

Fintech Futures reported on Aug. 29 that PNC Treasury Management is now offering RippleNet-based cross-border payments solutions to its commercial clients, claiming that the blockchain solution will give them:

“The ability to receive a payment from an overseas buyer against their invoices instantly, transforming the way they manage their global account receivables and allowing them to better manage their working capital.”

Ripple: MoneyGram partnership bearing fruit
As Cointelegraph reported previously, PNC had first revealed its plans to use RippleNet back in September 2018. At the time, the announcement caused the value of Ripple’s digital token XRP to soar.

At the time, the announcement caused the value of Ripple’s digital token XRP to soar.

At the time of writing, XRP is not seeing a price boost: in keeping with the wider crypto market, the asset is firmly in the red, trading down by around 6% on the day.

Yet as Ripple’s head of Global Institutional Markets, Breanne M. Madigan this week indicated — price is not the only parameter company insiders are eyeing.

Madigan shared fresh data on Aug. 23 that revealed that while overall XRP trading volume was down nearly 65%, XRP/MXN volumes on Mexican crypto exchange Bitcoin surged by over 25% during the same period of time that MoneyGram payments into Mexico using XRP went live.

Madigan said the data is a sign of a real use case driving real volume.

In June, Ripple had announced its purchase a 10% stake in MoneyGram — the second-largest remittances firm worldwide —as part of a $30 million partnership with the entity. A central stipulation in the deal was that MoneyGram would begin using xRapid.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse later claimed that a year from now, the MoneyGram deal “will have a more consequential impact on the crypto markets than the Libra white paper.”

Backlash from XRP holders
This week, Garlinghouse has been prompted to comment on several controversies surrounding the Ripple project. Among them is some token holders’ continuing frustration about what they perceive to be the negative market consequences of Ripple selling XRP to its clients.

In parallel, an ongoing class action suit against Ripple has been recently amended, in which a disgruntled investor has alleged that the firm sold XRP as an unregistered security in violation of federal law.
Riaz Haq said…
#China approves PayPal's (PYPL) acquisition of a 70% equity interest in #Chinese GoPay. It will not be an easy market to break into. #Chinese #digital #payments services #Alibaba (BABA)'s #AliPay & #Tencent (TCEHY)'s WeChat Pay have dominated that market https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/30/tech/paypal-gopay-china-payments/index.html

As western companies jockey for a way into China's enormous digital payments business, PayPal has clinched a license to provide digital payment services in China, following its acquisition of a majority stake in a Chinese payments company.

China's central bank has approved PayPal's (PYPL) acquisition of a 70% equity interest in GoPay, the companies announced Monday. PayPal says this makes it the first foreign firm licensed to provide digital payment services in China.
The terms of the deal, which is expected to close by the end of 2019, have not been disclosed, a PayPal spokesperson said. GoPay is a small Chinese payments provider that functions similarly to PayPal — it allows merchants to accept non-credit card payments straight from their websites.
American payment and credit card companies have for years been trying to break into the world's second largest economy, where the growing middle class means a growing market of consumers seeking lending, credit card and money transfer services. In recent years, the Chinese government has opened the door to foreign firms to start applying for licenses to launch payments networks in the country, but the approval process has been slow-going. By taking on majority ownership of GoPay, PayPal acquired access to the Chinese firm's license to provide online payment services.

"We look forward to partnering with China's financial institutions and technology platforms, providing a more comprehensive set of payment solutions to businesses and consumers, both in China and globally," PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said in a statement on LinkedIn.

The deal opens the door for PayPal to process digital transactions in China — which are estimated to total in the trillions. But it may not be an easy market to break into. Chinese digital payments services Alibaba (BABA)'s AliPay and Tencent (TCEHY)'s WeChat Pay have dominated that market, in part by making it easy for merchants to use their services and accept payments from mobile phones rather than setting up the infrastructure to accept credit card payments. As of last year, more than 8 million brick-and-mortar stores in China accepted AliPay.
The licensing requirements have made it difficult for American companies to operate in the country, while benefiting Chinese companies.
Only one other American company has successfully made inroads in the market. Last year, American Express received preliminary approval from the People's Bank of China to start building out a domestic clearance and settlement network through its joint venture with Chinese partner LianLian group.
In every other market in the world, American Express processes transactions through its own, Arizona-based network. But in China, it's had to rely on the state-controlled payments giant China Union Pay to process transactions. The preliminary approval it received last year will allow it to build out its own network to process payments on AmEx branded cards.
Mastercard and Visa have also tried to offer such services in China.
Riaz Haq said…
GSMA Report Highlights That #Mobile #Broadband Networks Now Cover 80% of #Pakistan, Representing a Great Opportunity To Deliver Life-Enhancing Services https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gsma-pakistan-government-together-harness-100000712.html?soc_src=social-sh&soc_trk=tw via @YahooFinance

Report Findings

Mobile technology is at the heart of digital transformation in Pakistan driving social development and economic growth. Digital transformation is underway in the country, with government and public institutions as well as private and development organisations using digital platforms to increase engagement and improve service delivery to its citizens.

Mobile broadband networks now cover 80 per cent of the population and 97 per cent of internet connections are mobile;
Pakistan has nearly 700,000 cellular IoT connections across areas including agriculture, clean energy and safe water solutions;
Mobile technology is the primary channel for digital financial services, digital birth registration initiatives, digital health solutions and digital learning;
The mobile ecosystem in Pakistan plays an increasingly important role in economic growth, contributing around $16.7 billion, equivalent to 5.4 per cent of GDP; and
Mobile operators and the ecosystem also provided direct employment to around 320,000 people in Pakistan in 2018.
Enablement of digital ecosystem is largely supported by timely policy interventions for the facilitation and enablement of the industry and most importantly the end-user.
Despite this progress, Pakistan still has much to do to realise its development aspirations as outlined in the country’s Digital Transformation initiative. The bulging youth in the country is the catalysing factor in the early realization of digital ecosystem, which is helping Pakistan in swiftly catching up with its neighbours in South Asia and countries in the Asia Pacific on several key human development indicators including education, health and gender equality. Meanwhile, rapid population growth, at nearly double the average for South Asia, could increase the pressure on existing infrastructure and services, undermining efforts to enhance social development.

Industry and Government Collaboration

Three key priorities were identified for stakeholders to enhance the impact of mobile-enabled digital transformation on Pakistan’s development aspirations:

Enhance digital and financial inclusion: Like all other developing countries and economies, Pakistan’s population is still in transition and the use mobile internet or have access to formal financial services is growing with a remarkable progress witnessed in the past few years, however, if timely actions are not taken for harnessing the benefits of digitalization and taking the opportunity to the grassroots, it may put the country at risk of missing out on the socioeconomic benefits of digital transformation. The exclusion gap cuts across gender, geographic, economic and literacy lines. For example, women are 37 per cent less likely than men to own a mobile phone.

The government, industry, tech companies and development partners are closely working to address the challenges related to connectivity, integration and modernization of telecommunication networks and services, leading to digital transformation and financial inclusion in the country.
A holistic approach to digitisation: The fragmented use of digital services by government agencies and development organisations, often leads to wastage and inefficiency in the use of resources. A whole-of-government approach to the planning and implementation of digital initiatives could increase the overall impact on society.
Use mobile platforms for national development plans: Pakistan's 12th Five-Year Development Plan runs from 2019 to 2024. There is a significant opportunity to incorporate mobile, particularly on efforts to improve areas such as gender equality, health, education and poverty reduction.
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan lays out #digital #payments strategy. It has been praised by #WorldBank president David Malpass, who adds that the SBP must be joined by other stakeholders in the drive for digital #financialservices. #fintech #FinancialInclusion https://www.finextra.com/newsarticle/34761/pakistan-lays-out-digital-payments-strategy via @Finextra

The State Bank of Pakistan has set out a new, digital-focused, national payment systems strategy designed to boost financial inclusion, particularity for women.

Cash still dominates Pakistan's economy, with most wages paid in paper money and merchants largely unable to accept digital payments. Just 21% of adults have a transaction account and of these only seven per cent are women.

With such a low base, the central bank claims that migration to electronic payments will stimulate consumption and trade, boosting Pakistan's economy by as much as seven per cent and creating four million jobs by 2025.

Governor Reza Baqir says the bank will strengthen the country's legal and regulatory framework to bring it in line with international best practices, laying the groundwork for a "modern and robust digital payments network".

Rules are already in place for the digital onboarding of merchants to encourage acceptance of non-cash payments, while the central bank is also developing a faster payments system. The government will continue to move towards electronic payments, possibly creating a shared platform for all disbursements and collections.

The strategy has been praised by World Bank president David Malpass, who adds that the SBP must be joined by other stakeholders in the drive for digital financial services.
Riaz Haq said…
Digital payment and banking technology provider i2c has been tapped to fuel Pakistan’s first “digital-native financial super app” TAG, which is set to roll out in the first quarter of 2021, according to a Tuesday (Jan. 5) announcement emailed to PYMNTS.

https://www.pymnts.com/news/international/2021/i2c-chosen-fuel-pakistan-first-digital-native-financial-app/

"i2c’s tech stack provides us a sound foundation for enabling the kind of innovative, safe and secure payments experiences we’re bringing to market,” TAG CEO Talal Ahmad Gondal said in the announcement.

TAG provides instant payments capability to Pakistan’s unbanked adult population of roughly 100 million. The app includes features like mobile top-up, bill payment, automated teller machine (ATM) access, and the capacity to send and receive funds immediately without charges to anyone with a TAG account and tools to keep track of spending. The firm’s roadmap includes expansion to the Middle East and North Africa.

"We're thankful for TAG’s selection of our platform and for the opportunity to play a role in helping bring digital financial services to so many people," Aurangzaib Khan, i2c’s general manager for the MEA region, said in the announcement.

The news comes as Pakistan experienced a sizable rise in remittances from nationals working in other countries in July, showing a rare case of the pandemic helping a country’s economy.

"More good news for Pak economy,” Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Kahn tweeted in August. “Remittances from overseas Pakistanis reached $2,768 mn in July 2020, highest-ever amount in one month in the history of Pakistan. This is 12.2 percent increase over June 2020 and 36.5 percent increase over July 2019.”

As the worldwide pandemic and ensuing economic disruption have blurred the boundaries between traditional means of payment, i2c CEO Amir Wain told PYMNTS in November the largest business opportunity ahead will be in credit, with mobile becoming the largest game-changer.

“The stars of financial services in 2021 will have something to do with credit,” Wain said, adding the days of the simple checking or demand draft accounts (DDA) are over. “You can’t be a star with the DDA in 2021.”

-----------
i2c Inc. drives innovation to the global digital payments and open banking industry with a multi-function platform built for endless possibilities. Advanced “building block” processing technology at its core provides a vast suite of credit, debit and prepaid solutions—all from a single global SaaS platform. This enables clients to dynamically configure payment solutions with unparalleled flexibility, agility and performance while maintaining highly secure and reliable payments.

Founded in 2001, and headquartered in Silicon Valley, i2c’s next-generation technology helps organizations drive revenue growth, scale and adapt to change while supporting millions of users in more than 200 countries and territories and all time zones

https://www.linkedin.com/company/i2c-inc/
Riaz Haq said…
As founder and CEO of i2c, Amir is responsible for defining a clear vision and setting strategic direction for the company. Recognized as a pioneer in the prepaid/stored value industry, Amir founded software development firm Innovative Private Limited in 1987 and led the global launch of the transaction processing platform FastCash. Propelledby the success of Innovative, he founded i2c, Inc. in 2001 to bring next-generation processing solutions to the payments industry. Contributing to the company’s expansive growth curve, under Amir’s guidance, i2c has introduced a number of industry firsts, including card-linked offers, event-driven account holder communications and gift card voice personalization.
Today, as market opportunities for payments & emerging commerce continue to expand at a dramatic rate, Amir is leading i2c’s continued push to innovate the enabling infrastructure and solutions that transform commerce. Today’s consumers want choices, and Amir’s vision is to build the flexible solutions they seek in an increasingly mobile and global world.

----------------

I was born in Pakistan and before I could legally purchase beer, I came to the US to the University of Texas in Arlington to do my computer science and engineering. So it was an interesting journey coming across the globe to a new place, not knowing anyone. And, I thought besides the education in the class, just being in a new place at that age was a great learning for me. So really, really enjoyed my time and I learned a lot, and I really would call myself a serial entrepreneur because I never really worked for anyone right after college. And in fact, even during my last 18 months at college, a friend of mine and I were doing custom coding and doing projects for people. And as I graduated, I went back to Pakistan to be with my parents and saw a tremendous opportunity in terms of exposing the power of personal computing to the corporate world. And I'm talking 1986 so the IBM XT had come out, Lotus 123 was there, and it was a 10X change on the old way of doing things and just showing people some use cases and how all of this could be used was number one, extremely exciting and offered tremendous benefits to the other party. And, so that kind of got me thinking about starting a business and we started with a training program of computer appreciation for the senior executives. And I started doing this multi-day course for the senior management at large organizations and from one referral to another, that got the business going.

So, everyone kind of loved the spreadsheet aspect but then they would have problems that couldn't be solved by a spreadsheet, like inventory management, anything which has historical data and so on. So, we started getting business for custom software development and from there, it was more and more focused on the finance sector and we did a lot of work for banks in that space doing custom software development. And, currently I am based in the Bay area. I've been here since 2001, beginning of 2001, so just after the dotcom party ended. So, it was a good time and it's been a fantastic journey since then. And i2c was my third business that I started. So, between 1986 and 2001, and the other two businesses still operate successfully, with one of them traded on the stock exchange. The other is run by management. I’m on the board and spending most of my time at i2c that I'm very actively engaged with, and since then I've invested in a couple of other businesses and help them get started. So absolutely entrepreneurship I think is one thing that I have kind of seen and had in me throughout this journey.

https://leadersinpayments.com/show-notes/f/amir-wain-ceo-of-i2c
Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan govt launches new instant #digital #payment #gateway. Privately operated Jazzcash and Easypaisa are already available in Pakistan, but the State Bank's Raast would be the first to link government entities and financial institutions. #fintech https://reut.rs/39qqLau

Pakistan has announced a new government-run instant digital payment system in a bid to boost financial inclusion and government revenue in the country where only a fraction of economic transactions occur on the books.

The new system, called “Raast” or “direct way”, will be rolled out in three phases culminating in early 2022, officials from the State Bank of Pakistan said on Monday.

Developed through a multi-year collaboration between the State Bank of Pakistan and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with support from the World Bank, Britain and the United Nations, one goal for Raast is to boost involvement of women in the formal economy.

Several private-sector digital cash transfer systems that do not require a bank account, such as Jazzcash operated by telecommunications company Jazz and Easypaisa operated by telecommunications company Telenor Pakistan, are already available in Pakistan, but Raast would be the first to link government entities and financial institutions.

“I hope that in years to come we will look back and see this new digital public good as an important contribution to our shared goal of giving all people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty,” Bill Gates said in a statement read out at the announcement on Monday.

Merchants, businesses, individuals, fintechs, and government entities will be able to send and receive near real-time payments through the internet, mobile phones and agents. Government payments, including salaries and pensions, will also be made through Raast, as well as payments for nationwide financial support programmes, such as the Benazir Income Support Programme, and the Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme.


Pakistan’s ability to curb illegal financial transactions, including the financing of militant and extremist groups, has been under close scrutiny from international financial watchdog the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Prime Minister Imran Khan, whose government has taken steps to automate collection of taxes on transactions and tightened rules on banking, said shifting away from a cash-based economy and tackling corruption were the chief motivations behind Raast.

“Pakistan collects about the least amount of tax in the world,” Khan said. “We cannot build infrastructure, we cannot work on human development, or educate children, or improve hospitals.”
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan has unveiled a new instant digital payments system, called Raast, that is aimed at boosting digitalisation within the country's economy.


https://www.zdnet.com/article/pakistan-launches-new-state-run-digital-payments-system/


The new digital payments system is being touted by the Pakistani government as an easy-to-use, efficient, and cost-effective payment option that will provide opportunities to small businesses and those without easy access to payments systems.

Developed by the country's state bank, in collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Raast project was created after a review revealed that individuals living Pakistan who are financially excluded and less privileged, like women, did not have access to fast payments systems, Governor Falah Baqir said.

According to the state bank, men in Pakistan are roughly five times more likely than women to have a bank account and, of the poorest 40% of the population, just 14% have an account.

"I hope that in years to come we will look back and see this new digital public good as an important contribution to our shared goal of giving all people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty," Bill Gates said in a statement.

Raast will be rolled out in three phases. The first phase, which commenced at the start of the week, includes a bulk payment module that will allow for the digitisation of dividend payments, salaries, pensions, and other payments from government departments.

In the next phases, Raast will digitise payments of micro and small business owners or merchants, which will allow them to pay suppliers on time and fulfil other urgent payment obligations, the state bank said.

The new payments system will eventually provide person-to-person payments, including features such as sending requests for payments and initiating payments using identifiers such as phone numbers or any other alias.
Riaz Haq said…
The new system is called "Raast," or "direct way," and will be rolled out in three phases culminating in early 2022, according to the news outlet. The system was developed over a period of years by a collaboration between the State Bank of Pakistan and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

https://www.pymnts.com/news/international/2021/pakistan-launches-payment-system-to-boost-financial-inclusion/#:~:text=The%20system%20was%20developed%20over,the%20Bill%20%26%20Melinda%20Gates%20Foundation.&text=The%20Raast%20system%20was%20also,Britain%20and%20the%20United%20Nations.


With the new feature, merchants, businesses, individuals, FinTechs and government entities will be able to utilize real-time payments via the internet, mobile phones and agents, alongside government payments like salaries and pensions, Reuters writes. Payments for nationwide financial support programs, like the Benazir Income Support Programme and the Ehsaas Emergency Cash programme, can also be made through Raast, Reuters reports.

The Raast system was also supported by the World Bank, Britain and the United Nations. One goal for the company, according to Reuters, is to boost the role of women in the formal economy.

Also, while there are several private-sector digital cash transfer systems like JazzCash, which is operated by telecommunications company Jazz, or Telenor Pakistan's Easypaisa, Raast would be the first one to link government entities and financial institutions together.

“I hope that in years to come we will look back and see this new digital public good as an important contribution to our shared goal of giving all people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty,” Bill Gates said in a statement read out at the announcement on Monday, according to Reuters.

This isn't the only digital upgrade Pakistan will be receiving soon, as i2c has been tapped to work on the country's first digital-native super app, PYMNTS writes. The app, called TAG, will work to provide assistance for the 100 million Pakistan adults who are unbanked.

Riaz Haq said…
#Pakistan PM #ImranKhan rolls out ‘Raast’ #digital #payments initiative to move to cashless #economy. The initiative is part of PM's “Digital Pakistan Vision” aimed at including the poor segments of society in the formal economy. #DigitalPakistan https://tribune.com.pk/story/2279540/pm-rolls-out-raast-initiative-to-move-to-cashless-economy

The country took another step towards the digital world on Monday with the launching of Raast – Pakistan’s first instant payment system that enabled end-to-end digital payments among individuals, businesses and government entities within seconds.

Prime Minister Imran Khan launched the Raast at a ceremony here. The initiative is part of the prime minister’s “Digital Pakistan Vision” aimed at including the poor segments of society in the formal economy.

“Raast is a big step towards realising Pakistan’s potential; it will help the country move from cash economy to digital economy and help the government to collect more taxes when formal transaction channels are utilised more,” Imran said, addressing the launching ceremony in the federal capital.

Imran said that cash economy was one of the biggest hurdles for a country of 222 million to take full advantage of its potential. “Cash economy’s biggest disadvantage is tax collection; Pakistan collects the lowest tax in the world,” he said.

The prime minister regretted that only 2 million people paid taxes in a country of 220 million population, while the top-3,000 taxpayers paid 70% of the total taxes. “This is not enough to build hospitals and schools, and provide other basic facilities of life for the common man.”

The prime minister hoped that Raast will slowly and gradually take the country away from the addiction of cash economy to the digital economy and enable the country to take full advantage of its people. He said that Raast programme would take government’s other initiatives, including Ehsaas, ahead.

“The real target is to boost formal economy and our biggest problem is that we have a big informal economy,” he said, adding that the government could neither collect taxes in the presence of a big informal economy nor the country could progress. “Without revenues, there is no progress,” he said.

Prime Minister Imran said that “Pakistan can’t build infrastructure; can’t invest in human development; unable to provide education to children; can’t improve healthcare infrastructure” just because it lacked financial resources.

“The country which was making rapid progress in the region 50 years ago can’t move ahead because we don’t have enough financial resources,” he said, hoping that “Raast will take the country away from addiction of cash economy.”

Imran lauded the step of including the poor segments of society, women and overseas Pakistanis in Raast, saying it was also a big step. “Opening women’s accounts is a big step as it would help them progress,” he said, adding that women in rural areas were affected the most by poverty.

He lauded State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor Reza Baqir, his team and several others, who made the project a reality. He encouraged them to keep thinking about bringing more remittances through formal channel and shifting more and more people from cash economy to digital one.

He thanked Queen Maxima of the Netherlands for taking interest in the programme and wellbeing of Pakistan, especially, in women living in deprived areas and wanting their financial inclusion in Pakistan. He also thanked the Gates Foundation, British High Commission and the World Bank for providing help to Pakistan.

In his address, the SBP Governor said that Raast would make payments secure, while the banks and monetary institutions will get benefits as it provided fast and cheap digital payment option for customers.

He added that it had been developed on international best practices as it would connect government institutions instantly, which meant that salaries, pensions as well as savings could instantly be paid through it.
Riaz Haq said…
Meet the Investor Who Spots Opportunities for Jeffrey Katzenberg
Anthony Saleh oversees a growing venture-capital fund at the former Hollywood chief’s WndrCo, after its Quibi video app collapsed. He also works with the rapper Nas.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-the-investor-who-spots-opportunities-for-jeffrey-katzenberg-11642341603


While working with Nas several years ago, Mr. Saleh cold-emailed Ben Horowitz, the co-founder of the venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz to discuss ideas, Mr. Horowitz said. The two men got to know one another, and in 2013, Mr. Saleh called Mr. Horowitz to say he and Nas were interested in bitcoin after seeing how many “unbanked” people in the world had no checking account but did have a cellphone—a dynamic he said could decentralize finance. When Mr. Horowitz later heard about Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange platform, he brought the duo into the investment.

Last year, Coinbase Global Inc. was one of six investments in Mr. Saleh’s personal portfolio that ended in a public offering.
Riaz Haq said…
Digital transactions record robust growth


https://www.dawn.com/news/1653511

According to the State Bank’s latest Annual Payment Systems Review (PSR) for FY21 issued on Friday, the transactions processed through the SBP’s large-value payments segment, known as Real-time Inter-Bank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM), recorded a growth of 60 per cent by volume and 12.8pc by value.

As of June 30 this year, the PRISM system had 51 direct participants — 34 banks, seven microfinance banks, nine development finance institutions and one non-bank entity (Central Depository Company). During FY21, PRISM processed 4.2 million transactions amounting to Rs444.6 trillion.
Riaz Haq said…
#Finnish fund buys 17.6% stake in TPL #Insurance in #Pakistan. The size of #Finnfund #investment is $3 million, which amounts to Rs632.8 million at the current exchange rate. https://www.dawn.com/news/1699871

KARACHI: TPL Corporation said on Friday a Finnish fund has successfully completed the transaction to acquire 17.59 per cent shareholding in TPL Insurance, a subsidiary of the Pakistani conglomerate.

Speaking to Dawn, TPL Insurance Ltd CEO Muhammad Aminuddin said the size of the transaction is $3 million, which amounts to Rs632.8 million at the current exchange rate.

Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd, a private firm incorporated in Finland, was originally going to invest roughly Rs540m in the Pakistani insurer through a special rights transaction. However, the investment size increased in the local currency because of the recent depreciation in the exchange rate.

“The investment will come through the issuance of new shares for which we’ve received approval from the regulator,” said the CEO.

Finnfund is a development financier and impact investor that buys stakes in “responsible and profitable” businesses in developing countries.

This is the second investment by an “impact investor” in TPL Insurance, which also raised last year an equity equalling 19.9pc of share capital from DEG, the private equity arm of the German government. The technology-driven business model of TPL Insurance supplemented by the Finnish fund’s global experience and knowledge will result in new product lines, a regulatory filing said.

According to the annual report for 2021, TPL Corporation and TPL Holdings held a collective stake of 64.38pc in TPL Insurance. After the transaction, the stake of the TPL Group in the insurer will reduce to 52pc, said Mr Aminuddin.

Riaz Haq said…
VEON Subsidiary Pushes Digital Inclusion in Pakistan

Tommy Clift | Reporter

https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/veon-subsidiary-pushes-digital-inclusion-in-pakistan/2022/09/

Mobilink Microfinance Bank (MMBL) launched a trio of initiatives to accelerate financial inclusion for farmers and female entrepreneurs in Pakistan. The move echoes another by its parent company VEON to promote digital access through its subsidiary Kyvistar.

The MMBL plans include an agriculture advisory service for Pakistani farmers, e-commerce services for female entrepreneurs, and 4G handsets. VEON CEO Kaan Terzioglu believes the initiatives will play a pivotal role in digitalizing the microfinance industry in Pakistan.


VEON noted in a statement that agriculture represents nearly 23% of Pakistan’s gross domestic product and employs approximately 37% of its workforce. Recent floods in the country destroyed 3.6 million acres of crops and killed 700,000 livestock, it added.

MMBL is partnering with Pakistan-based agricultural technology company BaKhabar Kissan to provide information and guidance on livestock management, weather monitoring, crop planting – including which are profitable, and boosting agricultural yields.

“We are aiming to build a digital infrastructure that will help further economic prosperity and financial empowerment among women business owners and small and medium-sized farmers in the country, two segments that have the potential to transform Pakistan’s economic future,” MMBL President and CEO Ghazanfar Azzam stated.

Their push to incentivize and advance female entrepreneurs comes with their collaboration with Pakistan e-commerce platforms Daraz and its flagship Women Inspirational Network (WIN) program. This is intend to promote a female-focused, “digital financial ecosystem” using their subscriber base – currently accounting for 53% of the 195 million cellular subscribers in Pakistan, according to VEON.

Women make up nearly half of the country’s population, but VEON notes “their financial inclusion figure stands at 7%.”

The new program will use the Digit 4G handsets to “drive participation in the digital economy among marginalized groups within the population.” The handsets will be discounted and targeted at female entrepreneurs, coming “pre-loaded with the digital banking application, MMBL DOST, which will enable customers to obtain quick financial assistance, pay bills, make money transfers, and use a vast array of digital banking services,” VEON explained.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan’s Digital Lending Revolution
Not only is increased digital lending the need of the hour, it is also a very attractive business proposition.

https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1144545/pakistans-digital-lending-revolution

The cruel spiral of poverty plagues generations once it takes grip. It takes money to make money. This is especially true of emerging and undocumented economies like ours. It takes money to educate one’s children, without which income prospects greatly diminish for the next generation. It also takes money for a small business owner to invest in stock or supplies. Without this, no income is generated from the business which feeds a disproportionate number of people downstream. Often, health issues can devastate families and their fortunes because a head of household was not able to afford medical treatment.

Poverty is not new. However, we have, for the first time in history, witnessed such a massive and rapid deliberate reduction in the world’s poverty. China systematically lifted 800 million people out of its poverty spiral over a relatively short 40-year period. There are many lessons in this for Pakistan, the biggest of which is that it is indeed possible to turn the corner for our people.

China relied heavily on digital technologies that financially included a significant portion of its population, and also connected them for commerce with each other. Mobile smartphone penetration, online connectivity, digital payments, and online commerce became key catalysts of income mobility. The ensuing digital footprints paved the way to provide credit to people who were previously undocumented and thus un-lendable. There is no debate now that access to credit is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty. And today, digital access to credit can reduce poverty at scales and speeds previously unimaginable.

Pakistan has recently undergone its digital revolution. Today 80% of adults in Pakistan have access to internet-connected smartphones. About a third have made digital payments. Seventy percent of new bank accounts over the last five years were contributed by mobile wallets. Our chowkidars, mazdoors and corner store owners are all on WhatsApp and avidly consuming TikToks. E-commerce, although still relatively small with a market size of about six billion dollars annually, has shown one of the fastest growths globally. Key catalysts of income mobility are now present for us to take advantage of.

So why do less than two percent of our population receive loans from formal financial institutions? Because formal financial institutions employ traditional ways of establishing creditworthiness, by collecting documents. The size of our undocumented economy is at least as large as our formal economy and comprises the vast majority of our population. With no signals of creditworthiness, money is not lent. With poor signals of creditworthiness, money is lent but de-risked by pledging tangible assets, which are uncommon among the poor.

The scarcity of credit given by banks to consumers and small businesses is further compounded by the fact that it is hard work to give small loans with cumbersome and expensive physical processes. There is little incentive to serve these key segments, especially compared to the easy, safe and large lending appetite of our government. Nearly three-quarters of all the money deposited across banks is given to the government in the form of loans or investments by banks. This voracious appetite and easy profit from the government has crowded out private sector needs.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan’s Digital Lending Revolution
Not only is increased digital lending the need of the hour, it is also a very attractive business proposition.

https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1144545/pakistans-digital-lending-revolution


The good news is that the recent influx of venture capital into start-ups has led to the emergence of many new innovative financial technology (fintech) companies to solve these problems. Signals such as salary information, sales receipts and supply purchase data are being digitised and leveraged to establish creditworthiness with great success. Pakistani innovators benefit from the learnings from other emerging markets that previously cracked these problems with great success, including China, Indonesia, Africa and others. It should be no surprise that digital lending has started to make great progress in Pakistan.


For digital lending to truly take off in Pakistan, three key pieces of the ecosystem need to come together in a symbiotic manner: banks or money suppliers, fintechs and digital data-generating platforms. Banks are flush with cheap deposits from zero mark-up current accounts and therefore have the capital to lend. Fintechs, whose licences are governed under progressive lighter weight regulations, efficiently package small business and consume uncollateralised loans by acquiring and scoring them digitally. And finally, the platforms that collect the digital footprints of small businesses and consumers through transactional workflows, provide reliable signals for lending. They also embed financial services from fintechs into their platforms. The good news is that there are already several examples of all three stakeholders collaborating to lend in Pakistan with stellar results.

Pakistan’s five million micro and small businesses are stuck in a stagnant cash flow-starved hand-to-mouth status quo. Yet, they constitute 40% of our GDP and employ almost 80% of our non-agricultural workforce. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) lending data from fintechs shows that access to capital increases SME income by an average of 30%. Digital lending at scale to small businesses will have a tremendous impact on our economy, employment and standard of living. Similarly, less than 0.35% of people have received housing loans and consequently, home ownership remains dismally low. It is clearly in the country’s interest for responsible digital lending to take off.

Not only is increased digital lending the need of the hour, but it is also a very attractive business proposition. We have seen the entry of several well-funded foreign lending apps that have sprayed thousands of loans using sparse scoring data. As a result, their first cycle loan losses are exceptionally high, requiring expensive pricing to cover defaults. Many of these apps are unlicenced and engage in predatory practices. Customers are misled through claims of reasonably priced loans while hidden fees result in expensive triple-digit markup rates. Furthermore, the address books of customers are often harvested and their contacts are harassed if loans are not repaid on time. Most people who take loans from these apps are first-time borrowers with little financial literacy and can easily become over-indebted. Access to affordable credit with dignity is an important measure of a society’s evolution.

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan’s Digital Lending Revolution
Not only is increased digital lending the need of the hour, it is also a very attractive business proposition.

https://aurora.dawn.com/news/1144545/pakistans-digital-lending-revolution


Clearly, increased regulatory oversight is urgently needed to keep pace with the innovations in digital lending that we are seeing in the field. Informal players like these loan apps and your local electronics store do not share loan repayment behaviour with credit bureaus. This results in financial institutions approving loans that are unlikely to be repaid, ruining future credit access to a vulnerable segment that can benefit most from them. This must be carefully monitored and regulators must encourage lenders to utilise high-quality data to minimise defaults and keep loans affordable for greater impact. For example, low default rates of working capital loans that leverage actual business transactional data through embedded digital workflows allow small businesses to negotiate better rates. These digital loans scored using rich data give power back to small business owners who can in turn profitably grow their businesses and hire more workers.

In addition, as data becomes more sought, stored, and potentially shared, our consumer data protection laws will be tested and likely need to be updated. We will inevitably hear about large-scale data breaches and their aftereffects. While data leaks must be prevented and privacy protected, platforms across the ecosystem must also integrate and share data responsibly. This must happen with consumer consent. Combined data sets will produce richer signals to unlock more opportunities. Seldom in human history have we had such powerful tools to uplift our population in such a short period. One hundred and ten million digitally connected and transacting Pakistanis will produce rich footprints to enable lending for themselves and their businesses. When regulated and executed responsibly, digital lending has the potential to uplift millions of Pakistanis out of poverty and significantly raise Pakistan’s GDP. Amid the doom and gloom, exciting times lie ahead.
Riaz Haq said…
Investors, including HBL, participate in Finja’s Series A2 Funding Round
Finja, Pakistan’s largest dual-licensed SME digital lending platform, announced fresh capital injection as part of its $10 Million Series A2 financing round, with participation from notable investors including Sturgeon Capital and HBL.


https://www.globalvillagespace.com/investors-including-hbl-participate-in-finjas-series-a2-funding-round/

Finja, Pakistan’s largest dual-licensed SME digital lending platform, announced fresh capital injection as part of its $10 Million Series A2 financing round, with participation from notable investors including Sturgeon Capital and HBL. This investment round is multi-dimensional and includes equity, debt, and off-balance sheet capital. This is HBL’s second investment in Finja after its initial participation in the company’s Series A1 round.

With this injection, Finja has the capacity to finance more than $50 million over the next 12 months to catalyze the potential of Pakistan’s SME sector. This has set the stage to further scale Finja’s existing digital co-lending program to support its overall vision of empowering Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and their supply chains with digital credit.

This financing is a significant step towards more fully utilizing Finja’s credit engine, which continues to prove its scalability and accuracy, cementing Finja as the sustainable choice for SMEs throughout Pakistan.


Qasif Shahid, Co-Founder Finja remarked, “The future of the financial services industry lies in collaboration between fintechs and banks. Moving away from vertical silos to open banking systems and embedded finance. This puts Finja in a winning position as it ramps up our capability to offer small and micro businesses digital products.” He further added, “With this new injection and our laser focus on optimizing our organization, we will now be turbo charging digital lending to SMEs through our association with HBL”

Finja today has emerged as one of the leading digital lending platforms in the country clocking a total lending throughput of PKR 7 Billion at the back of extending approximately 150,000 loans to 35,000 Karyana stores in 30+ cities. Finja also works closely with FMCG distributors and helps them to buy supplies upstream on credit and also provides purpose built working capital lending lines to SMEs scored through Finja’s proprietary AI/ML algorithms.

Kamran Zuberi, CEO Finja Lending Services, remarked that Finja is the first financial services entity to package capital in small amounts of PKR 50,000 and for periods of 7, 14 and 30 days to Karyana stores for availing credit to buy supplies and improve their sales. “We score these retailers from data that we get from our partnerships with multiple FMCG principles, hundreds of distributors and new-age market aggregators that operate mobile apps for small retailers to order supplies from.”

Riaz Haq said…
Waada Buys Rival to Become Pakistan’s Top Insurance-Tech Startup
Pakistan’s insurance penetration is 0.7%, trailing neighbors
Nation to see further consolidation as funding slows: investor
---------------

Waada becomes largest technology led insurance start-up in Pakistan - 24/7 News

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/international/2022/11/07/693869.htm

Pakistani online insurance startup Waada acquired a local rival to create the South Asian nation’s largest player in the field, seeking to benefit from growth in the burgeoning market.

The Karachi-based company took over MicroEnsure Pakistan, a unit of MIC Global operating in South Asia and Africa, in an all-stock deal, according to a statement Friday. The brands combined have 1.5 million active customers, Waada said, without disclosing the deal value. Waada also said it’s closed a seed round of $1.3 million from local angel investors and foreign venture capital firms.


Pakistani online insurance startup Waada acquired a local rival to create the South Asian nation’s largest player in the field, seeking to benefit from growth in the burgeoning market.

The Karachi-based company took over MicroEnsure Pakistan, a unit of MIC Global operating in South Asia and Africa, in an all-stock deal, according to a statement Friday. The brands combined have 1.5 million active customers, Waada said, without disclosing the deal value. Waada also said it’s closed a seed round of $1.3 million from local angel investors and foreign venture capital firms.

----------

https://247news.com.pk/waada-becomes-largest-technology-led-insurance-start-up-in-pakistan/

Waada, The Insurance start-up has announce that the company has become the largest player among all technology-led start-ups in the country’s insurance segment after acquiring its rival company MicroEnsure Pakistan.

The Announcement was made on the startup’s Social media handle LinkedIn, In the announcement, it has been confirmed that deal has been locked however, company has not disclosed the details of the deal yet.

Separately, the company also announced a $1.3 million seed funding round. According to international news agency, the all-stock deal will bring the number of active customers of Wada to 1.5 million. “Waada aims to add customers using online sign-ups and has a goal to distribute 10m policies in three to five years,” it said.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan:Insurance market grows by nearly 22% in 2021
https://www.asiainsurancereview.com/News/View-NewsLetter-Article?id=82438&Type=eDaily

The insurance industry posted gross annual premium of PKR432bn ($1.9bn) in 2021, 21.7% higher than the PKR355bn chalked up in 2020, according to data compiled by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

---------

Other News
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Thailand:Insurance industry growth predicted to be flat in 2023
Hong Kong Insurance Awards 2022 winners feted
Taiwan:Cathay Financial Holdings to raise at least US$1.4bn




Riaz Haq said…
Insurance grows 22pc but penetration remains minuscule

https://www.dawn.com/news/1712835

The insurance sector grew nearly 22 per cent last year even though its penetration — the ratio of premiums to GDP — stayed at a paltry 0.91pc, a new report showed on Friday.

‘The Insurance Industry Statistics for 2021,’ the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan’s (SECP) first report on the sector, said gross premiums jumped to Rs432 billion in 2021 from Rs355bn a year ago, a growth of 21.7pc.

The size of paid claims rose from Rs170bn to Rs189bn, of which Rs136bn was paid by life insurance and Rs53bn by non-life insurance companies.

The number of policies stood at Rs10.1 million by the end of 2021, including 8m in the life insurance and family takaful segment and 2.1m in the non-life insurance and window takaful segment.

Insurance density — the ratio of gross premiums to the country’s population — stood at Rs2,084, the report said.

As of Dec 31, 2021, the insurance industry had 41 active operators, including 30 non-life insurers/general takaful operators, 10 life insurers/family takaful operators and one reinsurer.

The number of complaints also jumped, the report showed, as the sector received 10,297 complaints in 2021 compared to 8,254 a year ago. However, it also disposed of more complaints: 10,182 vs 8,086.

Of the total gross premiums of the non-life industry, 56pc came from Sindh, followed by 35pc from by Punjab, 7pc from Islamabad, whereas Balochistan, KP, GB and AJK each had a share of less than one per cent.

“As the data clearly demonstrates, Pakistan’s insurance market holds enormous untapped potential for growth,” SECP Commis­s­ioner Sadia Khan said in her remarks in the report.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan’s Agriculture-focused Fintech Digit++ Obtains Approval from State Bank

https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2022/12/200398-pakistans-agriculture-focused-fintech-digit-obtains-approval-from-state-bank/


The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the nation’s central bank, has reportedly granted approval to the test launch of the country’s very first agriculture-focused Fintech platform, Digitt+ (providing an Electronic Money Institution or EMI permit).

Digitt+ is supported by Akhtar Fuiou Technologies (AFT), the firm revealed this past Friday.

According to the firm, the aim of this agri-Fintech app is to fully digitize the agricultural ecosystem, enable greater financial inclusion for local farmers and unbanked consumers via its tech, partnership, relationship with agri-businesses and FMCGs operating in Pakistan.

As reported by local sources, Digitt+ has teamed up with FuiouPay, an international payment solutions provider, in order to offer a market-based alternative to the traditional banking system.

As explained in the announcement, FuiouPay provides holistic enabling solutions via their 75 intellectual property licenses and proprietary software solutions.

Qasim Akhtar Khan, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Digitt+, noted that the firm will offer financial technology solutions to farmers residing in the country, who will have the option to open bank accounts and also gain access to credit and digital financial services – including easy bill payments, digital commerce, investments as well as fund transfers.

As noted in the update, the approval from the State Bank of Pakistan is a key milestone.

This ongoing initiative has the potential to address persistent food security issues, significantly improve yields and enhance human welfare in Pakistan, directly affecting local farmers and merchants, he stated.

Notably, Pakistan has been a significant agriculture powerhouse for many years. Agriculture employs around 50% of the nation’s workforce and also contributes approximately 25% to the GDP.

While this is considerable, the industry doesn’t have adequate access to financial services from the banking sector.

Ahmed Saleemi, CEO of Digitt+ explained that using tech to create digital financial products focusing on micro services to build a platform that should support the delivery of these solutions for the retail Agri market and corporate sector can be achieved via the provision of business tools.
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan’s Agriculture-focused Fintech Digit++ Obtains Approval from State Bank

https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2022/12/200398-pakistans-agriculture-focused-fintech-digit-obtains-approval-from-state-bank/


The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the nation’s central bank, has reportedly granted approval to the test launch of the country’s very first agriculture-focused Fintech platform, Digitt+ (providing an Electronic Money Institution or EMI permit).

Digitt+ is supported by Akhtar Fuiou Technologies (AFT), the firm revealed this past Friday.

According to the firm, the aim of this agri-Fintech app is to fully digitize the agricultural ecosystem, enable greater financial inclusion for local farmers and unbanked consumers via its tech, partnership, relationship with agri-businesses and FMCGs operating in Pakistan.

As reported by local sources, Digitt+ has teamed up with FuiouPay, an international payment solutions provider, in order to offer a market-based alternative to the traditional banking system.

As explained in the announcement, FuiouPay provides holistic enabling solutions via their 75 intellectual property licenses and proprietary software solutions.

Qasim Akhtar Khan, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Digitt+, noted that the firm will offer financial technology solutions to farmers residing in the country, who will have the option to open bank accounts and also gain access to credit and digital financial services – including easy bill payments, digital commerce, investments as well as fund transfers.

As noted in the update, the approval from the State Bank of Pakistan is a key milestone.

This ongoing initiative has the potential to address persistent food security issues, significantly improve yields and enhance human welfare in Pakistan, directly affecting local farmers and merchants, he stated.

Notably, Pakistan has been a significant agriculture powerhouse for many years. Agriculture employs around 50% of the nation’s workforce and also contributes approximately 25% to the GDP.

While this is considerable, the industry doesn’t have adequate access to financial services from the banking sector.

Ahmed Saleemi, CEO of Digitt+ explained that using tech to create digital financial products focusing on micro services to build a platform that should support the delivery of these solutions for the retail Agri market and corporate sector can be achieved via the provision of business tools.
Riaz Haq said…
State Bank of Pakistan issues NOCs to five applicants for establishing digital bank

https://www.brecorder.com/news/40220082

Central bank expects after commencement of operations, digital banks will promote financial inclusion by providing affordable/cost effective digital financial services to unserved and underserved segments

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday said that it has issued no-objection certificates (NOC) to five applicants for establishing digital banks in the country.

The following are the ones issued the NOC:

I) Easy Paisa DB (Telenor Pakistan B.V & Ali Pay Holding Ltd.),

II) Hugo Bank (Getz Bros & Co., Atlas Consolidated Pte. Ltd. and M & P Pakistan Pvt. Ltd.);

III) KT Bank (Kuda Technologies Ltd., Fatima Fertilizer Ltd. and City School Pvt. Ltd.);

IV) Mashreq Bank (Mashreq Bank UAE); and

V) Raqami (Kuwait Investment Authority through – PKIC and Enertech Holding Co.)

In January 2022, the SBP introduced a licensing and regulatory framework for digital banks.

“The Framework was the first step towards introducing full-fledged digital banks in Pakistan. The digital banks are expected to provide all the banking services through digital means without any need for their customers to visit the bank branches physically,” said the SBP.

Race to digital banking – final round

In response to SBP’s Licensing and Regulatory Framework for digital banks, the central bank received twenty (20) applications from a diverse range of interested players such as commercial banks, microfinance banks, electronic money institutions and Fintech firms by March 31, 2022.

“Further, a number of foreign players including venture capital firms already operating in the digital banking space also expressed their interest to venture into Pakistani market directly or in collaboration with local partners. The five (05) applicants were selected after a thorough and rigorous assessment process as per the requirements of the Framework.

Bank Alfalah launches QR payment solution with SnapRetail

“Applicants were assessed on various parameters that included fitness and propriety, experience and financial strength; business plan; implementation plan; funding and capital plan; IT and cybersecurity strategy and outsourcing arrangements, etc. Further, all the applicants were given the opportunity to present their business case to SBP.

“Going forward, each of these five applicants will incorporate a public limited company with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. Afterwards, they will approach SBP for In-Principle Approval for demonstrating operational readiness and for commencement of operations under the pilot phase. Subsequently, they will commercially launch their operations after obtaining SBP’s approval.”

The SBP said it expects that after commencement of their operations, these digital banks will promote financial inclusion by providing affordable/cost effective digital financial services including credit access to unserved and underserved segments of the society.
Riaz Haq said…
Financial inclusion in Pakistan increases to 30% - Profit by Pakistan Today

https://profit.pakistantoday.com.pk/2023/02/08/financial-inclusion-in-pakistan-increases-to-30/


https://portal.karandaaz.com.pk/dataset/financial-digital-inclusion/1038


KARACHI: Financial inclusion in Pakistan has increased by 9 basis points from 2020 to 2022 and women’s access, specifically has hit a double-digit percentage for the first time, as recorded by a survey conducted by Karandaaz Pakistan.

As defined by the World Bank, “financial inclusion means that individuals and businesses have access to useful and affordable financial products and services that meet their needs – transactions, payments, savings, credit and insurance – delivered in a responsible and sustainable way.” This means conducting transactions through banks, mobile money and fintech.

The Karandaaz Financial Inclusion Survey (K-FIS) measures the percentage of adults above the age of 15 who report having at least one account in their name with an institution that offers a full range of financial services that is also documented by the government of Pakistan.

Following a significant jump in financial inclusion between 2017 and 2020, K-FIS recorded a substantial rise in the level of financial inclusion from 21% in 2020 to 30% of adults in 2022. Registered mobile money users more than doubled with an increase from 9% to 19%, while registered bank users also increased by 4 basis points over the same period.

By region, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) recorded the highest level of financial inclusion at 45%, followed by Gilgit Baltistan at 35% and Azad Jammu & Kashmir at 34%.

Looking at the division by gender, male registration accounted for the bulk of financial account registrations in 2022 with 47% having at least one registered financial account. Comparatively, only 13% of women are recorded to have at least one registered financial account. Although women’s percentage accounts for less than half of their male counterparts, the financial account registration for women has reached double digits for the first time.

Overall, the largest increase was seen in mobile money wallet users, as active usage increased from 8% in 2020 to 16% in 2022. Active usage also saw an increase in bank account holders, indicating an increase from 12% in 2020 to 14% in 2022.

Addressing the webinar held by Karandaaz Pakistan on February 7, 2023, Noor Ahmed, Director of the Agri Finance and Financial Inclusion Department of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said, “Over the years, there has been significant progress on financial inclusion. Key initiatives such as RAAST have been transformative in furthering the inclusion of the marginalised.”

Karandaaz Pakistan is a not-for-profit special-purpose vehicle set up under Section 42 in August 2014. The company is the implementation partner of the Enterprise and Asset Growth Programme (EAGR) and Sustainable Energy and Economic Development (SEED) programme of the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
Riaz Haq said…
HugoBank Appoints Atyab Tahir as CEO to Build a Digital Bank in Pakistan

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hugobank-appoints-atyab-tahir-ceo-020000099.html

Atyab Tahir brings over 2 decades of local and international experience in fintech and digital financial services to help build a digital bank in Pakistan

HugoBank expects to increase Pakistan's bank account penetration rate to over 80% and to open 34 million new accounts by 2027

SINGAPORE, March 27, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- HugoBank, Pakistan's latest digital bank led by a Singapore Consortium, today announced the proposed appointment of Atyab Tahir as Chief Executive Officer, subject to the State Bank of Pakistan's fit and proper assessment. Following the company's incorporation, Atyab will set-up and lead HugoBank in Pakistan to offer digital banking services to people and small businesses across the country.

Atyab brings over 20 years of business experience and deep industry knowledge to drive HugoBank's mission in Pakistan. Prior to HugoBank, Atyab led Jazzcash and served as a country head for Mastercard. He has also held senior positions with Tameer Bank and HBL where he focused on innovation and growth. With his vast experience in banking and fintech in Pakistan, the Middle East and New York, Atyab brings the best of both industries complete with a rich understanding of the local market and its needs.

"I am thrilled to lead HugoBank at the beginning of its journey in Pakistan and am confident that our digital bank will catalyse financial inclusion and wellness for the people of Pakistan. I am excited to assemble a team to build a customer-centric bank focused on offering accessible, convenient, and secure digital financial services to underserved individuals and SMEs alike," shared Atyab Tahir, Chief Executive Officer of HugoBank.

HugoBank will promote financial inclusion and literacy in Pakistan, offering products and services at price points that are accessible to everyone. The consortium aims to help Pakistan to achieve an 85% bank account penetration within five years, up from the current 16.29%[1] and is expected to open 34 million new accounts by 2027.

Pakistan has one of the lowest credit adoption rates in the financial sector, with only 2.4% of its population having access to credit from formal financial sources and 53% of the country's 220 million population currently financially excluded. Recognising the challenges faced in Pakistan, HugoBank is committed to introduce its state-of-the-art financial platform that will provide customers with an easy and convenient way to safeguard their money. With HugoBank, financial inclusion and literacy will become more accessible, ultimately contributing to the economic growth and wellbeing of the country.

Led by Singapore's Atlas Consolidated, which owns and operates the fast-growing WealthcareⓇ and savings app Hugosave, HugoBank is a joint venture formed in partnership with The Getz Group and Muller & Phipps. It received its No-Objection Certificate by the State Bank of Pakistan in January this year.

David Fergusson, CEO of Atlas Consolidated said, "We are pleased to welcome Atyab Tahir as the new CEO of HugoBank. With his extensive experience and deep understanding of the market, we are confident that he will lead HugoBank in promoting financial inclusion and literacy in Pakistan and help improve the lives of millions across the country. We are excited to work with him to provide and share international best practices and platforms to drive a positive change in the financial landscape and client's Wealthcare®."
Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's financial gender gap aggravates chronic poverty


https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Pakistan-s-financial-gender-gap-aggravates-chronic-poverty

This week's Big Story examines Pakistan's financial gender gap. According to the World Bank's Global Findex Database, which tracks the use of financial services, only 13% of Pakistani women have their own bank accounts, compared with 28% of men. The story takes an in-depth look at what is still keeping women away from financial institutions and how this is hindering the growth of Pakistan's economy.

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LAHORE -- Only 13% of women in Pakistan own bank accounts, the fourth-lowest proportion in the world.

When she was growing up, Mashal Wali watched her mother, Nasreen Muzaffar, put away a little money every week, storing it in a safe in their home. She would bring it with her when she went to the jamatkhana, a prayer hall for people from the Ismaili subsect of Shiite Islam. There, Muzaffar would contribute the money to a group savings account organized by managers at the adjacent community center near her home in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan.

The cash Wali's mother saved was leftover pocket money that she had received from her husband for household expenses and food. Muzaffar's contributions, along with savings from other women in her community, went into a joint bank account that she or her neighbors could draw from when they needed money for big expenses. This system helped her save up for personal items as well as gifts for her children, including a bike and a camera.

In Pakistan, community savings systems like the one Muzaffar uses are a mainstay, in part because many people do not have bank accounts of their own.


Pakistan has one of the lowest financial inclusion rates in the world, with 79% of its 231 million people operating outside of the formal banking system, according to the World Bank's Global Findex Database, which tracks the use of financial services. But women are disproportionately on the wrong side of this financial divide: only 13% of Pakistani women have their own bank accounts, compared to 28% of men. In a World Bank survey of over 135 countries and territories, Pakistan finished fourth from the bottom for female financial inclusion. In Asia, it was the third-lowest, after Afghanistan and Yemen. Outside Asia, only South Sudan has a lower level of account ownership by women.

The unbanked deal in cash, borrow from friends and family, and save through community groups built by social networks and trust. It is a system nurtured by communities for generations but rife with local politics and family drama, all of which women must negotiate to make use of informal community savings.

Part of the reason for their lack of access to finance is that roughly 75% of Pakistan's women are not formally employed, according to the World Bank. Many are labeled housewives and homemakers and completely reliant on the incomes of their husbands and other male relatives.

Even formally employed Pakistani women are excluded from banking, with only 16% maintaining their own personal account instead of operating from someone else's account. That compares to an average of 68% of women in developing countries globally who have accounts, according to data from the World Bank.

Pakistan's low rates of financial inclusion for women reflect a societywide issue of gender inequality. The country ranks second-lowest in the world in terms of gender parity, at 145th out of 146 economies in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index from 2022. Afghanistan ranks 146th.

The index studies economic participation, education, health and political empowerment. "[In Pakistan], women and men are really standing in very different places," said Shazreh Hussain, an independent social development and gender consultant in Islamabad.



Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's financial gender gap aggravates chronic poverty


https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Pakistan-s-financial-gender-gap-aggravates-chronic-poverty


"The ability for women to independently maintain money, spend money, conduct transactions and get paid for their labor and to control the funds that are theirs, that ability is severely dented or compromised because their engagement with formal banking channels is through men," said Mosharraf Zaidi, founder of Tabadlab, a policy research institute in Islamabad.

In Gilgit, Wali said many women of her mother's generation -- Muzaffar is 51 -- spend their days at home, apart from a weekly trip to the jamatkhana. Community saving there is the easiest choice -- women do not have to make a separate trip to the bank and can trust the financial managers at the nearby community center to handle the details for them.

"Most of the women are illiterate and have never ever been to a school or any learning platform so they don't know anything about how to run normal bank accounts," Wali said, referring to women her mother's age. Education levels are considerably higher for younger generations of women from her area.

The case for improving women's financial inclusion in Pakistan is substantial. The World Bank recognizes women's financial inclusion as a key factor in achieving at least seven out of 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Women's participation in the labor force in Pakistan has more than doubled during the past three decades, and by some estimates, boosting women's financial inclusion could increase the nation's gross domestic product by 33%.

Getting women involved in finance has also been shown to increase gender equality; a 2022 study by researchers at the University of Groningen found women who are financially included tend to be more independent and have more bargaining power in the household.

Experts say including women in formal financing will help them contribute to Pakistan's economy -- generating activity the cash-strapped country sorely needs. "To make them part of the financial market is the first step towards actually making them part of economic growth," said Fareeha Armughan, a research fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, a think tank in Islamabad, who specializes in financial inclusion and governance.

Roadblocks to closing the gap

Pakistan is improving access to financial services. The country launched a National Financial Inclusion Strategy in 2015, and the State Bank of Pakistan adopted a Banking on Equality Policy in 2021 to address gendered obstacles to banking. The policy acknowledged how far Pakistan needs to go to close the gender gap in its financial system.

But tackling issues of gender in financial inclusion is a challenge in Pakistan, since reasons for exclusion are often complex -- both social and socio-economic. According to data from Tabadlab, the most common reason cited by Pakistanis for staying out of the formal financial net was insufficient funds. The second most common reason was lack of documentation -- a problem that is frequently faced by women and people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

"So much of how we understand Pakistan is actually caught up in a lot of cultural and sociological and societal and political ... analysis," Tabadlab's Zaidi said. "What it ignores is the base foundation for all the dysfunction, which is economic."

In Pakistan, 38% of adults are illiterate and more than 37% of the population lives in poverty, according to Tabadlab. The institute found men are two times more likely than women to be financially included, and residents of urban areas are 1.5 times more likely to be included in formal financing than those of rural areas.

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's financial gender gap aggravates chronic poverty


https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Pakistan-s-financial-gender-gap-aggravates-chronic-poverty



Armughan said these factors marginalize certain groups in Pakistan, especially women in rural areas, and keep them from seeking out formalized financial services. "Financial exclusion is actually part of a larger phenomenon of service exclusion," she said, adding that service exclusion is an extension of social exclusion.

On the supply side, commercial banks have few incentives to serve women, who are seen as a credit risk if they do not have a steady income stream from a job of their own or if they make up the 1% of Pakistani women who are entrepreneurs.

Strict documentation rules at financial institutions in Pakistan meant to stop money laundering and terror financing can make opening a standard bank account a tedious process for men, and even more so for women, who often are less likely to have official documents, such as land deeds, in their name.

On the demand side, economic marginalization and geographic isolation in rural areas keep both women and men out of formal financing because it is difficult to access banks. Lack of documentation and low literacy rates can also make banking an intimidating and confusing proposition for people from lower social strata. Financial scams in Pakistan often prey on these knowledge gaps among people who are new to formal banking.

Distrust in formal financial systems because of economic uncertainty also plays a role in the scale of Pakistan's informal economy. "[Fewer] people today are confident about savings instruments at banks than they were five years ago, 10 years ago," Zaidi told Nikkei.

Social and religious traditions surrounding gender roles also contribute to the financial gender gap. Men are seen as the primary breadwinners in most families, making it less likely for mothers, wives and daughters to have separate bank accounts. Women in Pakistan are also engaged in unpaid care work at home and in the agricultural sector, keeping them out of the formal financial system because they do not earn salaries in these roles. According to a U.N. Women report published in 2019, Pakistani women spend 11 hours on unpaid care and domestic work for every one hour their male counterparts spend on it.

Simple factors like the distance it takes to walk to a bank or fears of harassment on the way can act as deterrents."[Men] go to offices. They openly walk on the roads, but women don't do this," Wali from Gilgit said, referring to the experiences of women from her mother's generation. These risks contribute to women's preference for saving at the community center, where they already go every week with their families.

Community is key

The pandemic stretched household finances in Pakistan to the breaking point and put informal community financial pools under severe strain. With many unemployed, families had to borrow money to make ends meet, and those debts are starting to fall due.

The country's ongoing economic crisis has also fueled record levels of inflation, which hit 35% in March, making basic necessities considerably more expensive. This has compounded the hardships of those people who were already recovering from financial challenges during the pandemic.

In Molvi Suleman Jat, a village in the district of Thatta in the southern province of Sindh, less than a handful of women have their own bank accounts and most deal entirely in cash-pooling leftover money into a community savings fund used for medical treatments and other emergency expenses. When someone from the group needs cash, group members give from their savings in the form of a loan, deciding on the repayment terms together.

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's financial gender gap aggravates chronic poverty


https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Pakistan-s-financial-gender-gap-aggravates-chronic-poverty


These types of group saving systems revolve around the idea of social collateral, where the basis of trust is the strength of the ties between group members. In Molvi Suleman Jat, women say they had no conception of saving before a system was started in 2019 through a development program from the Sindh Rural Support Organization funded by the Sindh government. Most women in the village earn through daily labor or by producing and selling local crafts, which allows them to save a minimum of 100 rupees (around 35 cents) per month.


Inez Murray, the CEO of the Financial Alliance for Women, a nonprofit organization focused on women's involvement in financial markets, told Nikkei community savings models are used around the world because of the way they help people in poor communities build up a lump sum. "[It is] a way of putting a barrier between your pocket and somebody else, which is the challenge if you're poor because you just don't have enough resources," she said. "[There are] always competing interests for your money."

People partaking in these systems, however, also often do so because they are excluded from financial services, playing into a cycle of informal borrowing and community financing. Over half of the world's unbanked population is comprised of women, and rates of financial inclusion for women in the developing world have remained largely unchanged for more than a decade despite global efforts to close the gender gap in banking.

Pakistan has targeted women for its national welfare initiative, the Benazir Income Support Programme, through which eligible women receive cash payments through cards issued by the program.

Women-focused programs around the globe have become especially popular in the world of microfinance. Murray says the focus on women in microfinance specifically stems from research that shows women are more trustworthy borrowers than men. "The loan repayment rates in every loan category in every country are better for women," she told Nikkei.

Microfinance is the practice of providing financial services to low-income groups that do not generally have access to them. In her book "Poverty Capital," Ananya Roy describes how the microfinance model, first conceived by Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, saw women as an important conduit for financing because of their perceived likeliness to use finances for social development, including schooling and investments in the household. The microfinance model, which initially focused on group-based or "solidarity lending," was premised on the idea that social pressure in communal settings encourages women to repay their loans.

Because they became the focus for microfinance loans, however, women also become victims of predatory lending tactics that can increase debt. Murray of the Financial Alliance for Women says such tactics took root when the sector began looking to lower transaction costs to achieve scale and sustainability. "[It became] much more about the loan officer taking the payments back," she said.

Pakistan's microfinance industry has also faced challenges. In 2012, the World Bank found that between 50% and 70% of microfinance loans to women in Pakistan were actually going to male relatives, while women remained responsible for the transaction costs and the stress of repayment. "Women were borrowing money across groups, and it became very difficult to know who was using money at the end of the day," said Roshaneh Zafar, founder of the Kashf Foundation, the first women-focused microfinance institution in Pakistan. "There were men who had also been pipelined the money."

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's financial gender gap aggravates chronic poverty


https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Pakistan-s-financial-gender-gap-aggravates-chronic-poverty


Zafar said the global financial crisis of 2008, which caused high rates of inflation and led communities to default on loans, pushed the microfinance industry in Pakistan to shift away from group lending. Since then, the uptake of the CNIC national ID card system, the creation of the Credit Information Bureau, and other forms of digitization helped regulate the market and made it easier for lenders to keep track of where the money was going, she said. Still, the financial crisis brought to light the risks of group financing and the continued challenges of female financial access. "Many of us had to rethink and realign models," Zafar said.

Technological solutions

As Pakistan tries to fix its problem of female financial exclusion, the country's state bank has told commercial instructions to step up their efforts to create products and offer services that cater to women, under the 2021 Banking on Equality Policy. Meanwhile, financial technology startups and development organizations are looking at preexisting models of saving to provide clues about how to get women more involved in financial matters.

Potential product revenue from financial services in the women's market in Pakistan is estimated to be around $652 million per year, according to the Women's Financial Inclusion Data Partnership. Many new models addressing female financial inclusion use mobile applications as an alternative to brick-and-mortar banks, which are often difficult for women to access. The State Bank of Pakistan aims to get 20 million digital banking accounts operating for women by the end of this year.

Mobile banking applications like Easypaisa and JazzCash have become increasingly popular across Pakistan and can be used by anyone with a mobile phone. However, there is also a gender gap in phone ownership, with 50% of women owning a cellphone compared to 81% of men, according to the GSMA, an organization that represents mobile telecommunications operators.


Mobile banking options are becoming increasingly popular among Pakistani women, although only half of the female population owns a mobile phone. © AFP/Jiji
In Molvi Suleman Jat, where many of the women are illiterate, dealing in cash is a much better system than mobile banking, which is still an unknown concept. "We lack skills to use smartphones because we never went to school," said Rukiya Jat, a manager for one of the village savings groups. "We are learning. We have the curiosity to be part of the world, so our girls are going to [learn how to] use technology."

Reza Baqir, the former Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, told Nikkei that none of the conventional explanations related to religion or culture seemed to account for the gender gap he was seeing in Pakistan's finances. Getting commercial banks to see women's accounts as profitable seemed to Baqir the most critical strategy in addressing the gender gap. "It was clearly a case of market failure where the market was not rising up to this opportunity," he said. The State Bank's policy includes a section that requires all banks to create and invest in a specialized banking department for women's products.

Numerous commercial banks in Pakistan -- including Habib Bank Ltd. (HBL), Allied Bank and Bank Alfalah -- have launched women-specific bank accounts to attract more female customers. Accounts like HBL's Nisa Asaan account, which is geared toward low-income women, can be opened with only a national identity card and has no minimum account balance.

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's financial gender gap aggravates chronic poverty


https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Pakistan-s-financial-gender-gap-aggravates-chronic-poverty



Shazia Gul, head of the Women Market at HBL, said these types of initiatives are meant to help get women financially included by removing the barriers to entry that exist for standard accounts. "We've done that to encourage women and develop a more enabling environment for them so that they're able to become part of the system on easy terms," Gul said. HBL launched its first women's account in 2016. Gul said the Banking on Equality Policy has given an added impetus to focus on women's products and policies. "It's not just about encouraging new accounts for us," Gul said. "It's about activating the existing [accounts] and also encouraging activity."

Some fintech companies in Pakistan have looked to community financing as the first step in getting women banked. Halima Iqbal, the founder of Oraan, a financial services startup, saw business potential in digitizing ballot committees -- a popular form of community savings -- when she returned to Pakistan in 2017 after working in Canada as an investment banker.

Iqbal and her team have helped dozens of women open bank accounts. According to Oraan's research, more than 40% of Pakistanis use the committee system for savings. Iqbal said committees are something women already feel comfortable using, which is why they were willing to try using the digital system. "There's a very deep-rooted cultural, social, religious aspect around it, right, like my mother did it, my grandmother did it," she said.

Oraan thought up a way to digitize committees by creating a platform that could organize the process and give people a trustworthy way to join committees outside of their immediate community. "Very quickly, we started recognizing that people don't necessarily want a better system," Iqbal said. "What they want is access to maybe a larger audience." By expanding on the committee model, Iqbal said Oraan's products seek to decentralize the risk in case certain communities experience a financial shock.

In December, a scam based out of Karachi brought risks of informal financing to life for Mariam Fareed, who'd begun paying into a community savings committee she'd read about in a Facebook group. The group has 35,000 members and in it, women post about their businesses, their homes and their lives.

Fareed started paying 7,500 rupees a month to secure her spot in the committee organized by an active member of the Facebook group, a woman she knew only by name and reputation. After four months, she started reading posts about the organizer, who'd failed to pay out thousands of collective dollars to dozens of members. Fareed got her money back but learned a lesson about blind trust of informal financing. "She didn't give me her details and I guess I also didn't give mine and that's my mistake," Fareed said.

Maham Alavi, who runs a Facebook page with the intention of helping women learn the basics of investing, said this is something she encounters often with women in her network who are only beginning to manage their own finances. Many worry that if they make a mistake investing, they will draw ire from family members, who won't trust them with finances in the future. Alavi said many women in her network lack basic financial literacy or confidence to do anything with their money besides stashing it somewhere in their homes.

Riaz Haq said…
Pakistan's financial gender gap aggravates chronic poverty


https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/The-Big-Story/Pakistan-s-financial-gender-gap-aggravates-chronic-poverty


Alavi also tries to encourage women to put their money into investments other than committees, which she sees as less productive than stocks and other financial ventures. Still, if community financing helps women start taking control of their own money, Alavi sees the system as worthwhile because it would give them some protection in unstable living situations. "They just need to have that financial independence that God forbid, if something happens, they have something with them."

Efforts to increase financial inclusion for women in Pakistan have shown signs of progress. From 2017 to 2021, account use by women almost doubled. HBL said the bank's specialized women's accounts now make up 29% of total accounts in branch banking, and 23% of their branchless banking accounts are registered to women.

Wali from Gilgit said there is less desire to use community financing among people from her generation, who are moving away from rural areas to study and work. The 19-year-old has her own bank account, which she uses to pay her accommodation fees for university. "I go to the bank," she said, "so I don't need to use [community savings] because the [other options] are more convenient for me."

Armughan of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute said convenience is one key to getting more women involved. She believes high rates of informal financing should not be seen as a sign that women do not want to be included in formal banking. Instead, it should suggest that formal banking still has a way to go to serve them.

"This market is not designed for [women]," she said. "The products are not tailored for them."



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