State Bank of Pakistan grants EMI License to NayaPay

NayaPay has earned commercial approval to operate as the first Electronic Money Institution in Pakistan– after a year-long pilot and inspection by the State Bank. Backed by sponsors of the Lakson Group, a conglomerate in Pakistan with market leadership in the fast-moving consumer goods, media, asset management, paper and board, and fibre broadband industries, NayaPay currently offers consumers a digital wallet with Visa debit cards for everyday payments.

Built from the ground up by a team of passionate Pakistanis, NayaPay aims to address the
needs of underbanked citizens — enabling them to create a wallet account within a few minutes on their smartphones; all one needs is her or his CNIC. On sign up, users are issued a Visa virtual card right on their phone for online purchases on popular international websites such as Amazon, AliExpress, Facebook and Netflix. NayaPay users can also order a physical Visa debit card for free to their doorstep and use it to transact with over 46 million merchants across the world.

Danish A. Lakhani, founder and CEO, said:

“We are delighted to have the confidence and support of the State Bank in our mission to enable a range of new services that previously were only accessible by a small segment of Pakistani society. We believe that the future of commerce is fast, accessible and ubiquitous – NayaPay aims to be at the forefront in the digitization of Pakistan with our low cost and secure digital platform which enables payments, communications and intuitive interactions between individuals and businesses.”

The commercial approval will allow the full-scale launch of the NayaPay consumer app which empowers users with a digital wallet that lives on the smartphone and gives users control of their money anytime, anywhere. Users can now enjoy fast money transfers between friends using an incredibly user-friendly chat interface. Additional features include splitting bills, chipping into a money pool for a common purpose, purchasing mobile top-ups and transferring funds to any bank account or wallet in Pakistan.

The company has partnered with several leading banks to enable their users to pay merchants on NayaPay. For users with accounts at partner banks, NayaPay is an excellent companion wallet. Customers can conveniently move money to NayaPay for their everyday payments, including monthly bill payments, fund transfers to friends, and purchases using the NayaPay Visa debit card. Businesses can receive payments in their wallets, pay expenses and offload funds to their bank accounts.

NayaPay has also announced its plans to introduce Arc—an innovative platform designed to
provide digital payments acceptance and financial management tools for small and medium
enterprises.