National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Karandaaz Pakistan signed a support agreement on Thursday, August 18th at the Head Office of NBP in Karachi, to work towards creating a Digital Financial Ecosystem by undertaking multiple initiatives including Strategy & Technology.
The signing ceremony was attended by the Senior Management from both sides including Mr. Mudassir H. Khan – SEVP/Group Chief CRBG – NBP, Mr. Azfar Jamal, EVP/Head –Payment Services & E-Banking– NBP, Mr. Imdad Aslam, Director Digital Financial Services (Karandaaz Pakistan) and Mr. Aasim Akhtar – EVP/Head of Network Planning & Service Quality.
Karandaaz will work with NBP to develop digital channel strategy for NBP and will entail the development of Mobile Financial Services (MFS) platforms enabling Digital Wallet creation on multiple channels such as USSD, smartphone application, biometric &debit cards etc. Through strategic partnerships with multiple Telcos in Pakistan and NBPs business volumes, especially the P2G & G2P businesses, puts NBP in a unique position to create a collaborative model in the market enriching the banking experience for the customers pan country through easy to use technologies.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Mudassir H. Khan emphasised on the same vision of Financial Inclusion by focusing on the Digital Financial Services. He further added:
NBP remains committed to digitizing the G2P and P2G payment channels and are excited to partner with Karandaaz Pakistan. This agreement is the first step to achieve towards NBP’s commitment by to creating a viable financial inclusion infrastructure for the benefit of general public.
After the ceremony, Mr. Azfar Jamal said:
The new initiatives now being executed in partnership withKarandaazPakistan for reaching out to the unbanked and under-banked, will prove to be the game changer in the banking industry, as NBP is committed to spearhead the evolution of digital financial services and transform the banking landscape over the coming years.
Mr. Ali Sarfraz, CEO Karandaaz Pakistan highlighted the benefits of digitization stating:
The potential of G2P payments to accelerate financial inclusion in the short to medium term is tremendous and cannot be over emphasized. By disbursing payments digitally to beneficiaries, including the marginalized and vulnerable, governments can enable the creation of a digital financial ecosystem with a wide range of financial products that can directly address the barriers to financial inclusion.
Digitization of such payments, therefore, presents great opportunity to increase recipients’ access to financial services and provide them with a financial transaction history.
Concluding the agreement ceremony, Mr. Imdad Aslam accentuated the digitization of G2P and P2G payment channels by suggesting that digitization benefits individuals, financial institutions and the government alike, and this partnership aims to surface these benefits for all.
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