ISLAMABAD: A digital payment app called Foree that is set to be rolled out in Pakistan in May this year will help boost the global cashless economy, create tens of thousands of jobs in Pakistan and facilitate overseas workers, especially in the Middle East, remit payments back home, Pakistani business mogul and chairman of the board of Foree has said.
The Pakistan government has recently launched a number of digital payment initiatives in a bid to boost financial inclusion and government revenue in a country where only a fraction of economic transactions occur on the books. The government says it also wants to incentivize private companies who want to help it shift away from a cash-based economy.
Several private-sector digital cash transfer systems that do not require a bank account, such as Jazzcash operated by telecommunications company Jazz, and Easypaisa operated by telecommunications company Telenor Pakistan, are already available in Pakistan but the Foree app is unique: it allows users to aggregate all their bank accounts and cards into a single app and carry out seamless domestic transactions at marginal cost. Users do not have to move money between different accounts using online banking and the service is unlike wallets, which only allow limited transaction facilities.
“Foree will be the first online payment system in Pakistan,” Murtaza Hashwani, deputy-chairman and CEO of Hashoo Group, and now the chairman of the board for Foree, told Arab News in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.
“Our ambition is global. This is going to be rolled out regionally in the Middle East and then we would like to take this globally,” he said, adding that around nine million Pakistanis abroad could help make Foree (which is the Urdu language word for ‘immediately’) a globally downloaded app.
Hashwani said the digital payment solution, regulated by the State Bank of Pakistan, would help overseas Pakistanis remit cash back home directly through the app, without the involvement of an agent or bank, and at minimum charge.
“Remittances will be one of the biggest areas we’re focusing on. For Pakistani diaspora living outside, remittances have always been a challenge,” he added, saying the app would help individuals and businesses regularize cash payments.
The app will also help boost e-commerce in the country and allow people to shop online from international brands and companies through real-time payments.
The project had been set up with a seed investment, Hashwani said, and future expansion would be undertaken by working with other global companies and venture capitalists willing to invest in Pakistan. Hashwani’s family conglomerate, Hashoo Group, is already a major player in the hospitality and oil and gas sectors.
Foree’s management estimates the payment solution will help create at least 100,000 jobs in Pakistan alone in the next two years and create points of sales [POS] not only in cities, but also in far-flung areas of the country as people won’t rely only on cash to make purchases.
“Foree will create POS… more and more people will be able to transact without any cash even in remote villages,” Hashwani said. “This is going to take out the COD [cash on delivery], and start digitizing the economy much more … This is going to start creating more jobs because more and more people will be able to take money without actually transacting into cash.”
Talking about the process to implement the initiative, Hashwani said it took a long time to get a license from the State Bank of Pakistan and integrate the app with banks to ensure its smooth functioning, adding that the State Bank had been “extremely supportive.”
As a first step, the company is working with Meezan Bank, which has at least one million customers, to launch the app in Pakistan in May.
About privacy and data protection of Foree users, Hashwani said all of the company’s servers were in Pakistan as part of a requirement to get licensed with the central bank.
“Everything is housed here, so security is enabled in that way and not compromised at all,” he said. “We believe in simple, fast and secure digital payments for everyone, and we are going to ensure it too through stringent checks.”
Pakistani businessman to launch payment app ‘Foree,’ will boost Middle East remittances
https://arab.news/9srut
Pakistani businessman to launch payment app ‘Foree,’ will boost Middle East remittances
- Foree, Urdu word for ‘immediately’, is an app that allows users to aggregate all bank accounts and cards into a single app
- Murtaza Hashwani, CEO of Pakistani conglomerate Hashoo Group, is one of the seed investors and chairman of the Foree board
Pakistan offers Kyrgyzstan Arabian Sea access as two states sign 15 cooperation accords
- Pakistan and Kyrgyzstan sign MOUs spanning trade, energy, agriculture, ports, education, security cooperation
- Kyrgyz president is on first visit to Pakistan in 20 years as both sides push connectivity and CASA-1000 power links
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday offered Kyrgyzstan the shortest and most economical route to the Arabian Sea as the two countries signed 15 agreements and memoranda of understanding aimed at boosting cooperation across trade, energy, agriculture, education, customs data-sharing and port logistics.
The accords were signed during a visit to Islamabad by President Sadyr Zhaparov, the first by a Kyrgyz head of state to Pakistan in two decades, and part of Islamabad’s renewed push to link South Asia with landlocked Central Asian economies through ports, power corridors and transport routes.
For Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan offers access to hydropower through CASA-1000, a $1.2 billion regional electricity transmission project designed to carry surplus summer electricity from Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan. For Bishkek, Pakistan provides overland access to warm-water ports on the Arabian Sea, creating a shorter commercial route to global markets.
“President Asif Ali Zardari has reiterated Pakistan’s readiness to offer Kyrgyzstan the shortest and most economical route to the Arabian Sea,” Radio Pakistan reported after Zhaparov met the Pakistani president.
The two leaders also discussed expanding direct flights to deepen business, tourism and people-to-people ties.
Zardari welcomed Kyrgyzstan’s completion of its segment of the CASA-1000 project and “reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to completing its part of the project, which is now at an advanced stage,” the state broadcaster said.
Zhaparov thanked Islamabad for supporting Bishkek’s candidacy for a non-permanent UN Security Council seat and invited Zardari to visit Kyrgyzstan at a time of his convenience. Both sides expressed satisfaction with progress under the Quadrilateral Traffic in Transit Agreement, designed to facilitate road movement between Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and China.
Earlier, both governments exchanged 15 sectoral cooperation documents covering commerce, mining, geosciences, power, agriculture, youth programs, the exchange of convicted persons, customs electronic data systems and a sister-city linkage between Islamabad and Bishkek.
According to APP, the MOUs were signed by ministers representing foreign affairs, commerce, economy, energy, power, railways, interior, culture, health and tourism. Agreements also covered cooperation between Pakistan’s Foreign Service Academy and the Diplomatic Academy of Kyrgyzstan, as well as collaboration between universities, youth ministries and cultural institutions.
“Our present mutual trade, comprising of about $15–16 million will be enhanced to $200 million in the next two years,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said after the agreements were signed, calling them “a framework for structured, result-oriented engagement and closer institutional linkages.”
Sharif said Pakistan was ready to serve as a maritime outlet for the landlocked Central Asian republic, offering access to Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar to help Kyrgyz goods reach regional and global markets.
