NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Pakistan on Tuesday unveiled the country’s first domestic payment scheme ‘PayPak’ to facilitate ecommerce and improve financial inclusion.

“The new payment (gateway) will compete in the domestic market with other international payment schemes,” the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said in a statement. “However, the new card will only be used within Pakistan and will offer the benefit of low cost, ease of affordability and security to ordinary citizens.”

1Link, which is already providing interoperability services for auto teller machine transactions as well as interbank fund transfers and utility bill payment facility, has introduced PayPak.

“With this launch, Pakistan became the 28th country in the world to have its own domestic payment scheme,” the statement said.