Aitizaz Hassan

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is set to launch a quick response (QR) code-based person-to merchant (P2M) or request-to-pay functionality, which will enable merchants and small businesses to receive instant payments from their customers. Talking to WealthPK, renowned expert on digital economy and Chairman of Pakistan Fintech Forum Syed Nadeem Hussain welcomed the initiative of introducing the QR code payment system for merchants. He said that QR codes are already acquainted concept among mobile users, and the government just needs to utilise them for payment purpose.

Nadeem said that there are challenges in launching the QR payment system in the common market. While learning QR code payment system isn’t time taking, Nadeem said they need to start this technology from somewhere. He said the government needs to train merchants and costumers for using the QR code. “The total e-commerce market is $5 to $6 billion which is only 8% to 10% of the total retail market. The fintech along with QR code trend will boost the e-commerce market. In India, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), the instant real-time payment system, is a precedent for us,” he said.

Nadeem said that Raast is going to be a game changer in creating ability of Pakistan’s digital payment system. So far, Raast is a single case of peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction, while the next phase will be P2M. It is true that people are not much aware about Raast facility. The chairman of Pakistan Fintech Forum said every institution would gravitate to become fintech in the current era. Pakistan just needs a right set of regulations to promote the digital finance revolution.

Expressing his thoughts in Pakistan Fintech Forum 2022 held in Karachi by Pakistan Fintech Network, the SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad said Raast will provide the key building blocks for taking Pakistan’s payments industry to new heights. “On Raast, they have already deployed the functionality of bulk payments and P2P customer transfers. Today on average, Raast processes around 200,000 to 300,000 P2P transactions valuing around Rs5 billion per day,” the SBP governor said.

Jameel Ahmed said that through Roshan Digital Account, the central bank has enabled the digital onboarding of overseas Pakistanis, who now can remotely open an account in a Pakistani bank within 48 hours. Since its introduction, more than 450,000 overseas Pakistanis have opened digital accounts and have sent more than $5.3 billion in these accounts. He said that financial exclusion and high usage of cash is a major problem in Pakistan. In fact, even people who have a bank account often find it difficult to access formal financial services relating to credit and saving from their service providers.

As a result, people and businesses rely on cash for their day-to-day transactions and resort to informal savings and risk management methods, including borrowing from informal lenders at very high rates for meeting their financial needs. The SBP introduced the digital or remote account opening framework in 2019 when it allowed banks and equal monthly installments (EMIs) to remotely onboard small merchants digitally. Last year, this framework was further enhanced into a comprehensive ‘Customers Digital Onboarding Framework’ for conveniently and remotely opening bank accounts by resident Pakistanis.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk