Pakistan sees massive growth in its digital payment market

Business Bureau, Gulf Today

BPC Banking Technologies, the leading provider of digital payment solutions, has partnered with Pakistan’s Meezan Bank to deliver its digital transformation agenda starting with the upgrade of its payment infrastructure.

BPC’s SmartVista platform has been selected by Meezan to deliver state-of-the-art issuing and acquiring services for the bank.

Meezan Bank is Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic bank with over 800 branches and presence in more than 240 cities.

With the pandemic driving rapid adoption of digital services, and the fast growth of e-commerce in Pakistan, the bank is expected to foresee massive growth in channels and transaction volume.

The bank’s move to invest in its digital payment infrastructure forms a part of its strategy to support both consumers and businesses during these challenging times.

BPC’s SmartVista Switch solution will be used by Meezan Bank to manage the authorisation of payment transactions in real-time, across all channels. With an aim to provide frictionless digital banking and payment experience for its customers, the bank will rely on the solution’s instant routing of payment transactions. Using BPC’s SmartVista Card Management and Issuing solution, Meezan Bank will also strengthen the delivery of new payment instruments to its customers mainly used upon account opening, while also offering a more secure e-commerce experience.

Faizur Rehman, Group Head of Information Technology and Digital Banking at Meezan Bank said: “Pakistan has seen massive growth in its digital payment market, driven by the shift to go digital during the Covid-19 pandemic. We need to have the right digital payment infrastructure in place to offer new payment experiences to consumers, as well as payment acceptance capabilities to companies. Leveraging BPC’s years of expertise and its robust solutions will help us adapt to these changes fast. We are confident that by combining the latest technology with our product offering, we can deliver excellent customer experience in this fast-moving landscape.”

The Pakistani Government has targeted to achieve $5 billion in e-commerce sales in the next three years. As a result, the Government is investing into enhancing e-commerce payment gateways, which enable merchants to accept credit, debit and prepaid card payments on their websites.

The country’s rapidly growing digital payment market also exposes its banks to the risk of Card Not Present (CNP) fraud. BPC’s advanced Enterprise Fraud Prevention solution will help Meezan Bank combat this growing threat by monitoring 100% of transactions online in real-time and across all channels. The solution uses machine learning and neural network models to ensure genuine transactions can pass through, while fraud attempts are identified and blocked at their earliest.

Angelo Bertini, SVP Managing Director, Middle East, Africa and South East Asia at BPC said: “As we increasingly shift to a digital-first economy; payment switches, management of merchant services and fraud prevention have become incredibly important to enable seamless digital transactions. At BPC, we know flexibility and the ability to scale are paramount to create a solution that can adapt with Pakistan’s electronic payment landscape. We look forward to continuing to support Meezan Bank as it navigates this exciting time in digital payments in Pakistan.”

Meezan Bank is the first and largest Islamic bank of Pakistan and the 6th largest bank in the country. With a network of more than 800 branches in more than 240 cities, supported by a countrywide network of 850 ATMs, Visa & MasterCard Debit cards, a 24/7 Call Center, Internet Banking and Mobile Banking facility; it has the largest Islamic banking network in Pakistan.

Meezan Bank has consistently been recognized as the Best Islamic Bank in Pakistan by numerous local and international institutions, which is a testimony of the Bank’s commitment to excellence. These institutions include Islamic Finance News - Malaysia, Global Finance magazine - New York, Asset AAA - Hong Kong, Asiamoney - Hong Kong, The Banker - United Kingdom, South Asian Federation of Accountants, Islamic Finance Forum of South Asian Awards, Pakistan Banking Awards - Dawn & IBP Pakistan, Employers Federation of Pakistan and CFA Association - Pakistan.

The JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited, an affiliate of Japan Credit Rating Agency, Japan has reaffirmed the Bank’s long-term entity rating of AA+ (Double A Plus) and short-term rating at A1+ (A One Plus) with stable outlook. The rating indicates sound performance indicators of the Bank.

Founded in 1996, BPC Banking, Payments: Context is what defines the organisation. The company has transformed over the years to deliver innovative and relevant solutions which fit with today’s consumer lifestyle when banking, shopping or moving in both urban and rural areas, bridging real life and the digital world. With 280 customers across 90 countries globally, BPC collaborates with all ecosystem players ranging from tier one banks to neobanks, Payment Service Providers (PSPs) to large processors, ecommerce giants to start-up merchants, and government bodies to local hail riding companies. BPC’s SmartVista suite comprises cutting-edge banking, commerce and mobility solutions including digital banking, ATM & switching, payments processing, card and fraud management, financial inclusion, merchant portals, transport and smart cities solutions.