In line with State Bank of Pakistan vision 2020 to enhance and promote financial inclusion, 1LINK launched Pakistan’s first domestic payment scheme – PayPak in April, 2016, with an aim to provide efficient, low cost & robust payment solution. This expands the financial services to unbanked / underserved by providing them an easy alternate to carrying cash. With this initiative, Pakistan has become the 28th country in the world to have its own domestic payment scheme.
PayPak cards are widely accepted at ATMs and POS across Pakistan. 35 member banks have signed and already issued more than 3.6 million PayPak debit cards with a monthly usage of over PKR 7.2 billion that are being processed and settled locally.
With only 21% of the Pakistani population owning a bank account, availability of branchless banking is the only way for unbanked population segment to open simple accounts or transfer money. PayPak’s affordable and highly secure network, potentially enables every citizen of Pakistan to enjoy basic financial services. Currently, PayPak has a lower interchange and minimal lifecycle cost as compared to global payment schemes’ cards. Transactions are locally routed and there is no need for cross-border transfer of any data. Its Debit and Prepaid card guarantees countrywide acceptance at ATMs and POS devices across Pakistan.
In addition, 1LINK is proud to introduce PayPak co-badged cards with UPI and JCB as the payment card of choice, capable to service customers in both international and domestic markets. All PayPak cards are EMV compliant (chip and pin) making it secure mode of payment.