Pakistan mobile-banking industry is receives global recognition as MCB and EasyPaisa won two titles in the world’s 1st Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) Award event recently held in Dubai.
The Mobile Money Transfer Global Conference & Expo, where the award was announced, was held in Dubai from October 24-27 and attracted 500 participants from 53 countries. The MMT award aims to recognise and reflect the rapid emergence of mobile-banking sector in all its varied forms. Pakistan’s Muslim Commercial Bank (MCB) and Telenor’s EasyPaisa were acclaimed with awards for their services of mobile banking in Pakistan. The entry was open to all players in the ‘Mobile money transfer’ eco-system. This year’s awards brought together mobile money project leaders from different countries, representing key stakeholders the world over.
MCB – Best Band-led Mobile Money Transfer: MCB won the award in recognition with best bank-led mobile money transfer programme. MCB transacted amount reached more than Rs. 3.05 billion since the launch of mobile-banking services in July 2009. The numbers of transactions carried were 2 million over the same period of time. The bank won the award for the best subscription and adoption rates as well as the market entry strategy and customers’ responses. MCB mobile-banking services are specified for its account holders that enable them to make payments and view balances directly from their accounts via mobile phones or any device connected to the Internet. Besides MCB, HSBC Brasil, India’s Yes Bank and Ireland’s Permanent TSB were also shortlisted by MTT Global. MCB has also been nominated for the GSMA and Banker Magazine awards for mobile-banking services.Telenor & Tameer Bank’s EasyPaisa Wins at MMT Global: As a cellular operator, Telenor Pakistan and Tameer bank secured performance award for the mobile money transfer. Telenor’s EasyPaisa competed against Grameenphone, Banglalink and Vodafone to win the award. It was also the only service nominated by the jury in three of the six categories; the two other categories being ‘Most Inventive Marketing Campaign’ and ‘Achievement in Financial Inclusion’. The mobile-banking services “EasyPaisa” was short-listed in three categories by MMT Global. Pakistan’s first real branch-less banking solution EasyPaisa was launched jointly by Telenor Pakistan and Tameer Micro-finance Bank Limited last year. Telenor Pakistan and Tameer Bank were declared winners of the awards by the operator or financial institution launched a successful new MMT service in the past 12 months, the first service of its kind in the world. The Telenor EasyPaisa service was pitted against some of the world’s leading mobile financial service providers such as Vodafone and Safaricom.
Tremendous Success of EasyPaisa: The EasyPaisa service is now available at more than 11,000 agents across Pakistan. The EasyPaisa services transacted Rs 10 billion in a single a year with the total transaction carried recorded six million transactions. With more than 500,000 unique users in the last month alone conducting more than 1 million transactions with a value of Rs. 2 billion in throughput, EasyPaisa is helping to provide people across Pakistan with much needed financial services. Currently, easypaisa services are available at more than 11,000 outlets in 700 urban and rural areas across Pakistan. The spread is even greater than the number of bank branches in Pakistan, which is 8,000. Roar Bjaerum, VP Financial Services, Telenor Pakistan speaking about the win, said: “The award is recognition of the uniqueness and the early success of the EasyPaisa portfolio of services. Telenor Pakistan is committed to offering secure and reliable mobile financial services to the people of Pakistan. By doing so we aim to bring empowerment and convenience to everyone, enabling them to carry out financial transactions whether in urban areas or rural communities.” Ali Abbas Sikander, Group Executive Director Technology & Operations, Tameer Micro Finance Bank Limited, commenting on winning the award said: “We are honored. While EasyPaisa is one of the most revolutionary services to come out of Pakistan’s banking and telecom sectors, it is also timely. The World Bank estimates the domestic transfer volume at close to $7 billion a year. Through EasyPaisa we aim to target current users of domestic remittance services. In addition, we aim to help bring a portion of the $2 billion to $4 billion transacted through informal channels into the mainstream.” Abbas also added that the State Bank of Pakistan, too, has provided a favourable regulatory environment for the promotion of innovative financial services. In a recent international study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Pakistan has been listed as number 5 in the world in terms of overall business environment for micro-finance, and number 1 in terms of regulatory environment.
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