1LINK getting Pakistan future ready with Najeeb Agrawalla, 1LINK

Discussing future of payments in Pakistan with Najeeb, 1LINK

1LINK is Pakistan’s first PSO/PSP and the defacto national payment switch. Since its inception in 2004 1LINK has consistently worked on innovating itself and has increased its propositions substantially.

1LINK was created by incorporation of 11 banks operating at the time in Pakistan which got together to form interoperability for ATMs, however over the period of time 1LINK as increased its member base to 38 member banks and 71 billers as well as non-traditional players such as SBP – BSC & CDNS are their members.

Recently, FBR and Customs has joined their ranks and over a period of 8 months around 200 billion rupees of tax revenue has been collected through 1LINK’s channel, discussing this Najeeb said, “Now consumers can pay their taxes through banking ADC channels without the need to go to the branch.”

1LINK is the pioneer in Pakistan when it comes to payments, in 2016 1LINK launched their very own domestic payment scheme PayPak, which has capture almost more than 8% of the market share in terms of issuance of Debit cards. Najeeb said, “We are very proud to be one of the 28 countries in the world to have launched their own domestic payment schemes.”

1LINK is working vigorously in bringing initiatives to support e-commerce industry of Pakistan by providing complete e-commerce platform for PayPak on 3D secure environment. Najeeb sharing his thoughts on the growth of e-Commerce said, “e-Commerce industry has also understood the importance of electronic funds whether it is through handheld POS machines or it is an app which helps people pay bills”. He further added, “The e-commerce industry is moving fast so you will see some real growth in this sector.”

Keeping in sight the security for their clients Najeeb told Daily NewsPK that, “We are adamant on providing state-of-the-art security to our clients, and this complete year has all been about it.” 1LINK has placed a four-layer deterrence level security system in place. First layer is Customer Level Fraud Risk Module, which evaluates all the transactions and generates risk opportunity for their users. Second is Entity level, it sets limits on the transaction each client can carry out whether it is cash transactions or IBFT. Thirdly, t1LINK has placed a module for monitoring 1LINK’s environment for any suspicious activity, which will alert in case of a crisis and lastly, they are setting up a Threat Intelligence Platform in collaboration with Pakistan’s Banking Association called Cyber Threat Intelligence Platform (CTI).

1LINK’s vision “To be Pakistan’s world class payment system of choice, by leading and operating a boundaryless digital payments grid and related ecosystems.” clearly defines the effort to work towards the goal of NFI.