An economy’s interconnectedness with technology gives birth to services and processes known as fintech. Pakistan has experienced exponential growth in financial technologies which bring ease in monetary circulation, bestow financial inclusion, provide convenient movement of money and negate the threat of money being stolen or looted. Considering the need and trend of the economy, the State Bank of Pakistan presented Raast— one of the Digital Financial Services— for easy access to transactions sans having any bank account.
The exceptional rise in fintech is to be attributed to the scarcity of bank accounts within the population— solely 19 percent of Pakistan’s population hold a bank account—, inconvenient traditional wherewithal for transactions, and limited options for receipts’ banking destinations.
The ineffective and conventional banking services incline the population to turn to effective and innovative methods for moving money. The banking sectors receive more money from fintech transactions than from physical queue deposits and withdrawals. Since the technological specifications brought about ease ubiquitously, finance remains no exception and fintech companies saw exceptional growth in the process.
The leading holder of market share, of course, is EasyPaisa, given its diversified user-friendly specifications. An ordinary payment agent 15 years ago inclined a sizable population as its users with over 25 million registered users according to EasyPaisa management r. Among all other fintech companies, this company holds the upper hand given its diversified services like Buy Now, Pay Later, Bill Payments, APIs and many receipts destination options, Digital Asaan Account, Mini Apps, EasyCash loan services, and performance score visualisations coupled with seniority hierarchy. In addition to this, one can create a “NewGen Account”, an account for individuals aged less than 18 ages using their B-forms.
Another fintech giant in the Pakistani context is Jazzcash. With slight difference from EasyPaisa, Jazzcash also magnets users given the QR payment system, and provides the first foreign currency exchange services via Payoneer— a financial services partner of Fiverr and Upwork for payment procedures. Rare in Pakistan’s financial services, Jazzcash brought a convenient method: QR payment, which, in effect, revolutionized its popularity. Except for some services provided by EasyPaisa, Jazzcash also brings users back to use its services. Additionally, Jazzcash helps users to buy online tickets from travel, education, and government payments. The registered customer numbers are no less than EasyPaisa owing to specifications of both the companies.
Registered under State Bank of Pakistan framed frameworks for Electronic Money Institution (EMI)— approved in 2019— SadaPay jumped into the pool with distinguished characteristic: SadaPay brought Apple Pay for payments and convenient foreign currency transactions, especially for freelancers, and Apple Pay outnumbers famous digital payment platform PayPal in user numbers since the former holds 550 million users while the latter has 450 million. Though this was a Herculean task for SadaPay to penetrate into the already saturated market with 269 fintech companies operating at present, distinguished traits made it grab active users in a short span of time.
The private banking sectors and governmental financial systems jump in to secure a way to include all population to get benefit from the financiail hand with technology. Robust foundations of fintech can be the sole service available for all and sundry in the era of penury in all other fields.
With a synonymous last name — from a recently mentioned fintech company — NayaPay joined the club in recent years and crossed a million downloads in the Google Play Store with the bio “Send money, pay bills, chat with friends and shop worldwide with a free Visa debit card.” Previously recognized solely for having confabulations with friends, NayaPay has recently introduced its newer feature: like Jazzcash and SadaPay, and also provides the facility to exchange one’s foreign currencies in rupees in the blink of an eye.
Given the prevalence of an archaic method of saving money, specifically known as “rotating savings and credit association” (ROSCA), Oraan, a fintech company, started its operation for that sole purpose with women’s household population its priority. Inclusivity, fintech companies’ prime priority, flows here too, since Oraan also welcomes the male population. Users sign up, deposit a selected amount and specify a period of need. The app charges a minor fee to provide facilities.
Considering the need and trend, banking sectors also commenced the fintech type services: JS bank launched Zindagi app, Allied Bank Limited, MyABL, Habib Bank Limited, Konnect, and Meezan Bank, Meezan Mobile Banking. Raast by State Bank of Pakistan, as mentioned above and various mobile banking apps by private banking sectors, emphasize and understand the need for financial inclusion in Pakistan.
In doldrums for years, Pakistan’s poor population activity accelerated courtesy of fintech companies’ activation. Though the economy, as always, is teetering, the finance circulation has been put into the smooth track since the fintechs are easy to use, convenient to sign up, smooth to function with simple display to locate functionalities. Though the majority of the population is mobilised and is finding ease in using so, for a sizeable proportion, fintech companies are still an alien term given the lack of mobile towers in remote rural areas, and s populace lacking knowledge of using smartphones. These restrictions do restrict the widespread usage of fintech companies’ services.
The private banking sectors and governmental financial systems jump in to secure a way to include all population to get benefit from the financial hand with technology. Robust foundations of fintech can be the sole service available for all and sundry in the era of penury in all other fields.
