Askari Bank To Launch NFC & EMV Debit Card

Askari Bank Limited (AKBL) in collaboration with UnionPay International has entered into an agreement to issue UnionPay QuickPass (NFC) and EMV Chip Cards in Pakistan.

The initiative will allow AKBL customers to enjoy convenience of contactless payments “TAP & GO” while keeping their payments safe and secure. Further, the agreement will enable AKBL customers to conduct transactions at 41 million merchants and over 2 million ATMs worldwide along with 10 million online merchant sites.

The partnership was signed by Farrukh Iqbal Khan, Group Head Operations, Askari Bank Limited Pakistan and Han Wang, General Manager, UnionPay International Middle East in Shanghai, China in the presence of Larry Wang, Chief Business Development Officer of UnionPay International, Asim Bashir-Country Head Branchless Banking & ADCs of AKBL.

“Askari Bank has always been at the forefront in re-shaping and re-defining financial services landscape and signing agreement with UnionPay International for QuickPass (NFC) and EMV chip card issuance is yet another step”, – Farrukh Iqbal Khan, Group Head Operations, Askari Bank Limited.

He further added that the Askari Bank will take advantage of UnionPay successful best practices for financial inclusion in China while re-defining AKBL strategic plan for financial inclusion.

“We are excited to work with UnionPay in Pakistan. Askari Bank continues to focus on improving customer experience and providing greater convenience by continuing to introduce new and innovative products. ‘Tap & Go’ contactless payments will add further convenience for AKBL customers while keeping the payments safe and secure.” – Asim Bashir, Country Head Branchless Banking & ADC, Askari Bank Limited.

Larry Wang Chief Business Development Officer of UnionPay International, said, “We are glad to offer new payment options for Pakistanis together with AKBL. UnionPay have made quite an achievement in Pakistan these years. At present, 70% of ATMs and 95% of POS terminals in Pakistan accept UnionPay cards, and over 3.4 million UnionPay cards have been issued in the country. The launch of UnionPay innovative products like QuickPass and EMV chip cards here this time will further enhance our service capability for the local residents.”


    • Answer to your question is this part of statement from second paragraph:
      “along with 10 million online merchant sites.”

  • “Askari Bank has always been at the forefront in re-shaping and re-defining financial services”

    EasyPaisa is already offering ‘Payment through NFC’ service since a year.

    • EasyPaisa is NFC/CTLS, but the CTLS EMV (the secure NFC that is used by EMV complaint devices like Visa PayWave, Mastercard PayPass, Amex AmexPay, JCB etc…).
      In CTLS EMV, a proper Chip Card related risk operations are performed with NFC card.
      It’s a technical thing that not everyone understand.

      • Is it worth availing this service Kashif & what are the pros & cons of this service?

        • There are lots of benefits for customer, merchant and bank. Most important is that it is not easy to create a duplicate card (each EMV card is secure and having some issuer public security keys). During the transaction, card issuer verify/validate different data that is generated and encrypted with the help of issuer public key. So if someone create a duplicate card that should not have that secure public key (that is not readable by any card reading device) and it will generate wrong information.
          Also the EMV capable card perform internal authentication (it means that even card verify/validate if the device in which you are suing the card is authorized device or not)


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