Digital payments player Visa Inc said on Tuesday it’s looking for “regional expansion” in order to drive digitalization of the payment landscape in Pakistan.
Visa has formally opened a new Pakistan office, it said, adding that its expanded on-ground presence is a testament to its commitment to supporting the company’s institutional and merchant clients, local government partners, investments and local communities.
Visa Inc is a global provider of rails for digital payments. It issues “credentials” — payment IDs linked to bank accounts or mobile wallets — that enable secure transactions among financial institutions, merchants and consumers.
Cash displacement in the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan (NALP) region has accelerated in the last two years. Visa has seen digital payment adoption increase at a “much faster pace” and is committed to supporting Pakistan’s journey to a cashless economy through digital transformation.
According to the 2022 Stay Secure Survey conducted by Visa on Pakistani consumers’ attitudes towards digital payments, data privacy and security were critical to 82 per cent of the participants. Similarly, knowing whether a merchant’s payment facility was secure remained the top priority for Pakistani consumers.
Pakistani consumers also prefer electronic payments with as many as 75pc of them stating they’d made a digital payment in the month before being surveyed. Four in every five consumers would switch merchants if their preferred payment method wasn’t offered, the research showed.
A total of 6.4 million e-commerce transactions amounting to Rs36.6 billion were conducted digitally in the January-March 2023 quarter, the latest three-month period for which payments data is available on the State Bank of Pakistan’s website. The figures translate to a quarterly decline of 22.2pc volume-wise and an increase of 7.1pc in terms of the value transacted, according to the central bank.
The company said its payments solutions deployed over the years continue to encourage this shift to digital payments in Pakistan. “Visa recognizes emerging trends in consumer payment behavior and payment patterns and remains committed to capturing these opportunities in the NALP region,” said Umar S. Khan, Visa Country Manager for Pakistan.
