Visa INc company is set to revolutionize the landscape of Visa digital payments in Pakistan, aiming to increase the number of businesses accepting them tenfold over the next three years. Leila Serhan, Visa’s General Manager for Pakistan, North Africa, and the Levant, made this announcement Recently.
This initiative comes alongside a strategic partnership with 1Link, Pakistan’s largest payment service provider, designed to streamline remittances into the country while promoting digital transactions. With a population of 240 million, Pakistan boasts one of the world’s largest unbanked demographics. Current estimates indicate that only 60% of the adult population, approximately 83 million individuals, holds bank accounts.
Visa Inc is heavily investing in digital payment infrastructure, aiming to make Visa digital payments more cost-effective and user-friendly. Presently, Pakistan has 120,541 point-of-sale (POS) machines, but Visa intends to dramatically boost this number. “Some businesses have more than one POS machine. We’re aiming at ten-folding businesses’ acceptance of digital transactions,” Leila Serhan stated.
The company’s strategy includes innovative technology that turns smartphones into payment instruments, accepting various payment methods, such as QR codes and card taps. Visa’s goal is to extend its reach beyond major cities and mainstream businesses to support smaller merchants.
The collaboration with 1Link aims to enhance the remittance process by improving payment security and promoting transactions through legal channels. As one of the leading recipients of remittances worldwide, Pakistan relies heavily on funds from overseas Pakistanis, which are crucial for the country’s foreign exchange reserves and significantly impact its GDP.
“We’re really looking forward to finishing this technical integration in the coming months, and I think it’s going to be a game changer for a lot of consumers in Pakistan,” Leila Serhan remarked. This partnership will also allow 1Link’s PayPak cards to be accepted on Visa’s Cybersource Platform for online transactions, despite PayPak being a competitor in the digital payments sector.
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With Pakistan recently signing a $7 billion bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund, which includes essential reforms such as revenue increases and economic documentation, Visa’s efforts in digital payments align perfectly with the government’s digitization goals. “Digital payments are going to be at the heart of what the government wants to do from a digitization perspective, and we will continue to partner with them,” Leila Serhan concluded.
