Habib Bank Limited has soft launched its branchless banking solution in Pakistan as a pilot before going for a full scale commercial launch, that is planned for October 2012, told us sources familiar with the development.
HBL branchless banking will be second bank lead branchless banking solution, Omni being the first, that aims to trigger the next big segment in a Pakistani market to give tough competition to services like Easypaisa.
HBL’s branchless banking solution is powered by Sybase 365, a SAP company, and is managed by Abacus consulting which claims to have deployed this large scale solution in record time.
Though we aren’t sure about the complete product line and service charges of HBL branchless banking but from what we have heard so far it appears that HBL is going to offer all kind of services that EasyPaisa is offering to its consumers and corporate customers with least 25 percent lesser charges.
Bill payment, funds transfer, government to persons transaction, tax collection, loan payments, insurance and many other services are what HBL will kick start with, with reports of more value added services coming in future.
We were further told by sources that HBL will adopt an innovative new way for carrying financial transactions, which would not be telco dependent.
Thanks to its large banking network, HBL is said to start its branchless banking operations with over 200 regional hubs which will control end-point retailors in their respective regions.
Experts opine that branchless banking industry is going to get more competitive in coming time, eventually curbing EasyPaisa’s monopoly in the business, which will benefit the end user who will get better services at optimum prices.
Expect more details on HBL’s branchless banking in coming days.
Futture of banking is branch less with the services offered by different foreign banks stand out from the rest. Local banks need to revamp there system in order to stay ahead and competitve in the industry.
bloggingchunks
Blogging Chunks Dot Com
More Banks will follow the string of this services. Eventually the benefit will be , i think the rural market, which is far far behind the rest of Pakistan urban market.
HBL will not be able to capture the market.First it was news that Ufone and HBL are coming togather but then ufone purchased his own bank and all the commercial banks i.e Askari Bank is coming zong, Bank Alfalah with warid,Mobilink with waseela so they dont have telco left to have one to one agreement for offering the BB services.Easypaisa is pioner and captured the ppl’s trust and market reputation with strong agent network so it will be dificult to end the monopoly of easypaisa at the point when it has more than 1 million easypaisa mobile accounts subscribers.
Oh yes u r rite but for Banking, Bank doesn’t need to have Telco
or does it really?? easypaisa is no doubt pioneer but remember who is pinoeer
in Banking Tameer Bank (easypaisa), Waseela, Alflah or Askari??? ohhh guess its
Habib Bank rite?? 1 million subscribers good job but what is activation rate??
15th October 2009 easypaisa launch but any new services introduced by easypaisa
for subscribers in 3 years except Bill payment, Top up and Money transfers??
hoping HBL will be having something in mind
Well in banking bank doesn’t need any telco but to capture
the BB market bank needs to have agreement with telco cz bank can’t have BB
agents at all locations …and what about the subscriber ?? how will they benefit
from it if bank not offer services with telco ??? Bearing GPRS cost ???
You must know HBL is following the almost same operation
pattern used by easypaisa as it’s the ex easypaisa management ( Tameer
Bank/Telenor ) who are now trying to commercially launch HBL Branchless
Banking.By the way easypaisa is adding new services day by day and ofcourse to
be at tope one needs to take initiatives for launching the new products.
One More thing its not about pioneer in market its about who take the right step at right time…Paktel was pioneer in tecom but didnt launch the gsm so mobilink captured the market evn paktel was pioneer
You are blackballing HBL :) Lets share our impersonal feedback here. Do you know HBL’s model, Price to Customer, Incentive to Agents, product line, financial strength, Reach in Rural areas etc.? I’m an independent analyst and always share my opinion based on research and facts. Telcos are dying due to tough competition and low margins in core domain that’s why they are trying to monopolize in the BB domain and not entertaining banks with USSD channel. Thanks to UBL, HBL and ABL who are there to control them. USSD channel’s life is less than 1 year or 2 year MAX. Once there is a 3G in Pakistan, you would see a tsunami of SmartPhone in Pakistan. For poor people who don’t have smartphones, I’m sure HBL has a very exciting plan for them. I don’t want to share it here as it is their confidential strategy. When I interviewed others, I was really not impressed with their vision. I found everyone mean and business minded whereas HBL really wanted to give services to its customers and on very competitive rates. Because they are not dying like Telcos when it comes to revenue :)
i am 100 % Agreed with Ma’m Sadi Dar
But why the commercial launch is so Delayed
and when this project of HBL is commercially launched .
i think first HBL should improve there current online internet banking system, and ATM networks as its so slow and most of the time it remains down, I am using HBL internet banking from last few years, but its getting worst day by day.
HBL has the guts to give tough time to EasyPaisa. USP seems to be no dependency on telco which is going to make EasyPaisa sweat. Secondly im sure HBL doesn’t have competition with smaller players like Askari (very bad strategist), Waseela (Struggling to go live for past 3 years) or Alfalah (Financial condition and Political factors i.e. Abrar Ameen resignation) as they are also dependent on specific telcos whereas HBL has telco agnostic model. Going live in such a short time is a prove of their seriousness and focused approach. Futhermore, their muscle is much more than EasyPaisa with a backing of SBP. I’m sure they must have planned it much better than others.
why the Commercial launch of HBL Branchless banking is Still delayed
i am 100 % Agreed with Ma’m Sadi Dar
But why the commercial launch is so Delayed
and when this project of HBL is commercially launched
Should be add in internet banking ptcl and mobilink bill payment