ISLAMABAD:Easypaisa has won the award for ‘Best Mobile Money Transfer Entrant of the Year’ at the world’s first Mobile Money Transfer (MMT) Awards held in Dubai last week, making it the year’s best service of its kind in the world.The service was pitted against some of the world’s leading mobile financial service providers such as Vodafone and Safaricom. In the winning category, easypaisa competed against Grameenphone, Banglalink and Vodafone to win the award. It was also the only service nominated by the jury in three of the six categories; the two other categories being ‘Most Inventive Marketing Campaign’ and ‘Achievement in Financial Inclusion’.
Pakistan’s first real branchless banking solution easypaisa was launched jointly by Telenor Pakistan and Tameer Microfinance Bank Limited last year. The service is now available at more than 11,000 agents across Pakistan. With more than 500,000 unique users in the last month alone conducting more than 1 million transactions with a value of Rs2 billion in throughput, easypaisa is helping to provide people across Pakistan with much needed financial services.
Roar Bjaerum, VP Financial Services, Telenor Pakistan speaking about the win, said: “The award is recognition of the uniqueness and the early success of the easypaisa portfolio of services. Telenor Pakistan is committed to offering secure and reliable mobile financial services to the people of Pakistan. By doing so we aim to bring empowerment and convenience to everyone, enabling them to carry out financial transactions whether in urban areas or rural communities.”
Ali Abbas Sikander, Group Executive Director Technology & Operations, Tameer Micro Finance Bank Limited, commenting on winning the award said: “We are honored. While easypaisa is one of the most revolutionary services to come out of Pakistan’s banking and telecom sectors, it is also timely. The World Bank estimates the domestic transfer volume at close to $7 billion a year. Through easypaisa we aim to target current users of domestic remittance services. In addition, we aim to help bring a portion of the $2 billion to $4 billion transacted through informal channels into the mainstream.”
Abbas said that the State Bank of Pakistan, too, has provided a favorable regulatory environment for the promotion of innovative financial services. In a recent international study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Pakistan has been listed as number 5 in the world in terms of overall business environment for microfinance, and number 1 in terms of regulatory environment.
The Mobile Money Transfer Global Conference & Expo, where the award was announced, was held in Dubai from October 24-27 and attracted 500 participants from more than 50 countries. It is recognized as the industry's definitive category event.
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