3 Payment gateways in Pakistan bridging the financial gap

By Leandra Monteiro

In Pakistan, the banking sector has been the first adopter of FinTech as it is helping bridge the gap in the financial sector. As a large portion of the country is still unbanked effective utilisation of FinTech has helped the country save time, promote new financial products, services and compete in international markets.

The country is also witness to the ascending usage of online banking and digital payments supporting the locked-down businesses that took off with online orders on channels like Facebook, Amazon, Daraz, FoodPanda etc. With almost 73% of Pakistan’s population having accessibility to cellular usage, making the country a fertile ground for FinTech growth. The following companies are some of Pakistan’s payment apps to keep a close eye on:

JazzCash

JazzCash, formerly known as MobiCash, is a mobile wallet in Pakistan, mobile payments, and branchless banking services provider. It was launched in 2012 as MobiCash by Mobilink in partnership with their subsidiary bank Mobilink Microfinance Bank. It has a market share of 64% in mobile money activity.

VEON-owned JazzCash is one of Pakistan’s leading FinTechs with over 13 million monthly active customers, 80,000 retail outlets and over 100,000 registered merchants nationwide. JazzCash offers a broad portfolio of branchless banking services for customers, including travel, ticketing, entertainment, money transfer, bill payments, debit card, insurance, savings and payments for a wide variety of services.

Keenu Wallet

Keenu is a FinTech company in Pakistan providing end-to-end payment solutions to businesses and consumers alike. The company has ventured into a Digital Wallet solution with the Keenu app for consumers where they can make quick and hassle-free payments across retail stores nationwide, and online stores and make bill payments with just a few taps.

SadaPay

SadaPay is registered as SadaTech Pakistan Pvt Ltd with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, is regulated by the State Bank of Pakistan, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of SadaPay Technologies Ltd., registered in the Dubai International Financial Centre.

SadaPay is bringing modern financial services to Pakistan in partnership with MasterCard. SadaPay offers digital payment services such as allowing users to send and receive local transfers via its app, and issue a Mastercard debit card to its customers. By removing the high costs of managing the physical infrastructure of traditional banks from the equation, the company can pass those savings onto the customer to provide free financial services.

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