United under the joint vision of expanding financial outreach to the underbanked and unserved population of Pakistan, Karandaaz Pakistan, a non-profit FinTech, has joined hands with Pakistan Post to introduce digitized e-money orders to facilitate its user base.
A partnership agreement to digitize money orders was signed by the two concerned entities on October 25, 2016 here in Islamabad. Interestingly an ‘e-agreement’ was signed this time by Mr. Fakir Syed Shaharyaruddin, DG Pakistan Post and Mr. Ali Sarfraz, CEO Karandaaz Pakistan who mutually agreed on the terms. The ceremony was co-chaired by a panel of Mr. Khalid Masood Chaudhry, Secretary Communications and Dr. Louise Walker, Group Head Economic Growth, Department for International Development (UKAid).
Under the agreement, Karandaaz Pakistan will be providing technical support to design “Mobile Money Order”. Karandaaz Pakistan team’s technical knowledge and its funding support will assist Pakistan Post in the identification of managerial and technical requirements for the new service and will strategize and develop a complete business plan. The project is envisioned to improve Pakistan Post’s service penetration and also create new revenue streams. The project will help to improve Pakistan Post’s service channel penetration from 6.5 to 30 per 100,000 persons by 2020 and offer a new portfolio of financial services via the digital platform.”
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Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Fakir Syed Shaharyaruddin, the representative from Pakistan Post, acknowledged the role of Karandaaz Pakistan in furthering the key goal of the Government of Pakistan of improving financial inclusion in the country and said,
“In view of the new opportunities in branch-less and mobile transactions and e-commerce, Pakistan Post’s reform program aims to contribute to the financial inclusion of rural populations with its nationwide network of post offices by launching its own mobile money order service.”
Mr. Ali Sarfraz stated, CEO Karandaaz, said,
“Karandaaz is committed to enabling greater financial inclusion for currently under-served rural populations and catering to their financial needs. Through this partnership with Pakistan Post, we hope to assist in the development of a digital platform for money orders, which has the potential to reach the under-served with improved speed, safety and convenience.”
Pakistan Post Office is one of the oldest government departments, providing countrywide postal services through a network of approximately 13,000 post offices. Pakistan Post is providing delivery services to about 20 million households and businesses as a community service without any cost considerations. The department can increase its reach and services by manifolds if it timely incorporates the IT innovations being happening around. This project can be harbinger of new horizons.
