The fintech market in Pakistan witnessed 2022 as a year of development with various new players entering the local market with their products, receiving licenses of commencing their operations, and making their services live to the consumers.
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) issued four licenses or in-principle approvals to new fintech players in 2022 including the UAE-based Hubpay Pvt Limited, Careem Payment Solutions, UAE-based YAP Pakistan, and UK-based Checkout Pvt Ltd.
These fintech operators or Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) were granted permission to launch their services mainly e-money wallets for consumers and merchants, a gateway for consumers and merchants and etc. According to the SBP, these EMIs issued 514,961 payment cards to their 262,558 account holders, onboarded 4,941 merchants, and issued e-money Rs. 5.0 million e-money during FY22.
SBP also granted approval for an operator, CMPECC Ltd to launch its services of e-money wallets for consumers and merchants. The banking regulator also gave a green signal to Akhtar Fuiou Technologies Pvt. Ltd to launch its pilot operations and services.
Also, an operator Safepay Limited as a PSO/ PSP operator received approval of launching pilot operations for its services e-commerce payment gateway in 2022. Surprisingly, the banking regulator has revoked a license and permission to launch pilot operations of an operator called TAG Innovation Limited.
The SBP has planned to further enhance and promote digital payment systems, not just for household consumers, but for private and government sectors as well in the coming years, along with giving more emphasis on supply chain digitization.
