SBP Grants Approvals For Setting Up EMI, PSO

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Tuesday granted in principle approvals to two more companies for establishing Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and Payment System Operator (PSO) or Payment Service Provider (PSP) while another EMI was allowed to start its pilot operations

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Nov, 2024) The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Tuesday granted in principle approvals to two more companies for establishing Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and Payment System Operator (PSO) or Payment Service Provider (PSP) while another EMI was allowed to start its pilot operations.

“The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has given in principle approval to M/s Toko Lab Private Limited and M/s Accept Technologies Private Limited (M/s PayMob) for establishing as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) and Payment System Operator (PSO)/Payment Service Provider (PSP) respectively,” said a statement issued here.

The EMI and PSO/PSP will now develop their infrastructure and readiness within 6 months for applying to SBP for permission to initiate pilot operations, SBP said adding that an approval was also granted to M/s HubPay Private Limited for initiating pilot operations as an EMI after assessing its readiness to initiate pilot operations.

Currently in the country, four EMIs- namely M/s NayaPay, M/s Finja, M/s SadaPay and M/s Akhtar Fuiou Technologies- were in Commercial Operations, said the statement adding that three EMIs namely M/s Wemsol, M/s E-Processing System and M/s HubPay were in pilot Operations while three EMIs namely M/s YAP, M/s Cerisma, and M/s Toko Lab have been granted in-principle approval for establishing their readiness for pilot operations.

As per SBP data, EMIs have opened 4.2 million wallets as of September 30, 2024, issued 4.6 million payment cards and have outstanding E-money deposits of Rs5.7 billion. On a year-on-year basis, the e-money wallets have increased 76.5 %, cards issuance by 41.4 % and e-money deposits by 87.5%.

Further, during the first 3 quarters i.e. Jan to Sep of 2024, a total of 82.1 million payments were made through E-wallets offered by EMIs amounting to Rs231.9 billion, showing a significant growth of 117% and 163% respectively as compared to the corresponding period in last year, it concluded.