State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has granted a license to operate E-payment gateway to Tameer Microfinance Bank and its owner company Telenor Pakistan which subsequently launched its service Easypay.
The operator of the service has been working to develop an eco-system for many years but the regulatory mechanism was finalized by the central bank recently to promote electronic payment with secure system throughout the branchless banking system.
With the e-payment gateway in Pakistan, not only the online transaction could be done at local level but it could be done to internationally in the near future.
An e-payment gateway will facilitate authorisation of local and cross border transactions in such a way that local transactions will be routed, processed and authorised domestically and only cross border transactions will be routed via international payment schemes operating in Pakistan such as VISA, MasterCard etc. for authorisation.
It is an important infrastructural component to facilitate the electronic transactions is establishment of a payment gateway. A payment gateway is an Ecommerce application service provider to authorise payments of Ebusinesses by acting as an intermediary between an acquiring institution and the issuing institution. The entire process of authorising an e-transaction is completed within a few seconds
Ecommerce market in Pakistan is promising but growing steadily with demand and awareness in the public but it is standing in the range of $25 million to $30 million for the annual revenues as per an estimate by a financial service group.
Easypay service will allow customers to pay from their mobile wallet account to do shopping which merely cost them 1 percent of the overall transaction amount. Whereas the payment through Over-the counter and credit card will cost 2percent and 3 percent service charges to the customers.
The expansion of 3G service, will promote mobile-banking services at rapid pace because the connectivity of the customers through their mobile phone devices will be convenient with the high speed technology.
Pakistan is considered as big market for online shopping as number of growing portals is emerging on the every next day which counted its number to the level of 2000 till now. The services is being handled on Cash-on-Delivery model which is time consuming and risky as well but the practices of manual payment was intensified in the absence of any local e-payment gateway.
Different Ecommerce companies with a face of web portals of consumers’ goods and services are not mere websites but flourishing business is behind them to a form an emerging sector of E-commerce in Pakistan.
These portals not only integrate different sectors of goods and commodities at a one platform but provide an insight to consumers helping for their decision of purchasing a service or product in consummate with their affordability and easiness.
The launch of e-payment gateway in the country will benefit to promote electronic means of transaction for consumers needs which leads to a step forwards towards financial inclusion.
Source: http://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/business/sbp-grants-licence-of-e-payment-gateway-to-tameer-bank-690/
