KARACHI

Bank Alfalah and Karandaaz Pakistan recently signed two agreements to collaborate and develop innovative, digital financial solutions in Pakistan. Under the first agreement, Karandaaz Pakistan will provide technical assistance to Bank Alfalah for the development of a digital strategy that will help the bank offer digital financial services to its customers, particularly the under-banked segments of the market. The second agreement focuses on digitization of supply-chain payments and conversion of cash transactions to wallet account based transactions. A few thousand retailers are expected to be digitized in the pilot phase.

Speaking at the occasion, Atif Bajwa, President & CEO Bank Alfalah said, "At Bank Alfalah, we are committed to enhancing finan- cial inclusion by reaching out to the unbanked populations who have limited access to financial services. We are at the forefront of the evolving digital financial services landscape in Pakistan and this partnership will help us to provide innovative supply-chain payment solutions to meet the changing needs of our customers."

Imdad Aslam, Interim CEO, Karandaz Pakistan said, "In order to bridge the gap between the banked andthe unbanked and reach out to remote and marginalised populations where access to financial services is limited, building a deeper understanding of alternatives to brick- and- mortar banking is of utmost significance. I am excited about this two-fold partnership with Alfalah and look forward to learning about retailer motivation so that appropriate incentivization structures can be designed to digitize payments at a larger scale." The signing ceremony took place at Bank Alfalah's office in Islamabad and was attended by senior representatives from both organisations.