F.P. Report
KARACHI: In recognition of its efforts in launching QR-based payment innovations in the country, Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic bank, has been honoured with the ‘Most Innovative Solution Deployed for Cash Displacement’ award at the recently concluded Mastercard MENA Acquirer Forum.
Shariq Mubeen, Head of Alternate Distribution Channels, received the award on behalf of Meezan Bank. This award acknowledges Meezan Bank’s endeavors to promote digital payments in Pakistan’s cash-heavy economy by collaborating with Mastercard and Inov8 Pvt. Ltd., a leading fintech in the mobile and branchless banking space, to develop an ecosystem of Masterpass QR-enabled retail payments using the FonePay App in Pakistan. QR-based payments will help drive the State Bank of Pakistan’s financial inclusion and digitization objectives, bringing merchants an efficient and cost-effective solution to offer their customers digital payments.
Deployment of this infrastructure was a complex project, requiring integration with both Mastercard and FonePay on different platforms, supported by comprehensive settlement and reconciliation routines in order to ensure real-time payments to merchants – both for existing Meezan Bank customers and those who do not hold a Meezan account.
Meezan Bank currently facilitates more than 20,000 merchants across Pakistan who have been signed up by FonePay in less than six months, with plans to expand this ecosystem to over a million merchants in the country.
The second edition of the Forum brought together over 100 industry experts from the financial and retail sectors in Dubai to discuss emerging e-commerce trends around the region, understand evolving merchant needs, explore the benefits of new Mastercard solutions and services and review opportunities to collaborate effectively.
Meezan Bank is the 8th largest bank in Pakistan and the leading Islamic bank of the country. The Bank provides a comprehensive range of Islamic banking products and services through a retail banking network of more than 570 branches supported by a countrywide network of over 570 ATMs, Visa & MasterCard Debit cards, a 24/7 Call Center, Internet Banking and Mobile Banking facility.
Meezan Bank has consistently been recognized as the Best Islamic Bank in Pakistan by numerous local and international institutions, which is a testimony of the Bank’s commitment to excellence. These institutions include Islamic Finance News – Malaysia, Global Finance magazine – New York, Asset AAA – Hong Kong, Asiamoney – Hong Kong, The Banker – United Kingdom, South Asian Federation of Accountants, Islamic Finance Forum of South Asian Awards, Pakistan Banking Awards – Dawn & IBP Pakistan, Employers Federation of Pakistan and CFA Association – Pakistan.
The JCR-VIS Credit Rating Company Limited, an affiliate of Japan Credit Rating Agency, Japan has reaffirmed the Bank’s long-term entity rating of AA (Double A) and short-term rating at A1+ (A One Plus) with stable outlook. The rating indicates sound performance indicators of the Bank. Meezan Bank is the only Islamic bank with AA credit rating in the Islamic banking industry in Pakistan.
