HBL to Launch Branchless Banking
Friday, November 18, 2011
Islamabad-HBL has inked a Technology Support agreement with Sybase 365, the global leader in mobile messaging and mobile commerce services, and Abacus Consulting, a leading management and technology consultancy firm for the deployment of branchless banking services. Mr. Faiq Sadiq, Head-Payment Services and Mr. Mudassir Khan, Chief Information Officer from HBL, Mr. Mathew Talbot, Senior Vice President, mCommerce and Tarik Husain, Business Development Director, mCommerce from Sybase 365 and Mr. Abbas Ali Khan – Senior Partner, Abacus Consulting were present on the occasion along with other officials from all three companies.
This branchless banking initiative, spearheaded by HBL, will be deployed on a mass scale in the region, creating opportunities for bringing unbanked segments of society into the financial network. Sybase 365 and Abacus Consulting will implement these services for HBL thereby facilitating implementation to optimize market potential.On this occasion, Mr. Faiq Sadiq said, ’About 85% of the unbanked population of Pakistan can systematically be brought into the financial system thereby creating greater transparency and being more inclusive.’ Mr. Mudassir Khan also commented about selecting Sybase 365 saying, ’After looking at several m-commerce and branchless banking solutions, we opted for Sybase 365 because we are confident that it will give us an edge with scalability, performance and interoperability.’
Mr. Abbas Ali Khan said, ’We are pleased to be a part of this transformation within the financial sector. This initiative is a step towards making branchless banking in Pakistan commercially viable and sustainable.’ Sybase is the world’s largest provider of mCommerce solutions and services to mobile operators and FSIs globally.
’Today’s global economy is becoming a mobile economy with consumers requiring convenient access to transaction channels anytime, anywhere,’ said Matthew Talbot. ’Our partnership with HBL to provide a leading mCommerce solution is pioneering the way customers will interact with their financial institutions and communities.”
