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Tag: digital payment

  • Digital mode to disrupt business transactions: FPCCI

    Digital mode to disrupt business transactions: FPCCI

    KARACHI: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has said that the digital mode of payment for corporate expenses would disrupt business transactions; because almost all sales in the country are made on credit and this credit is secured through ‘post-dated’ cheques issued by buyers in favor of the sellers.

    Mian Nasser Hayat Maggo, President FPCCI, in a statement on Thursday expressed dismay that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) continues to persist with the provisions of the ITO Third Amendment 2021; which seeks to compel companies to make payments for their expenses through digital mode instead of cross cheques; which is the prevalent mode for settling sale and purchase transactions in the country.

    He also stated that he was shocked by news reports revealing serious ‘Conflict of Interest’ underpinning this provision of coercing companies to make payments digitally. It has been learnt that this proposal was initiated by a committee of the FBR; and, not by the FBR itself and that committee includes an owner of a B2B FinTech company; which provides software services for digital payments.

    FPCCI Chief added that it was that owner of the FinTech Company and a member of that FBR committee as well; who proposed this idea and pushed it to be made part of the law, according to some other committee members.

    Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo added that FPCCI has taken note of FBR’s contention that “3rd party payments are highly prevalent in organized and informal sector whereby businesses do not use their own bank accounts when making payment for supplies and tell their own customers/transaction based informal investors to make direct payments to the principal supplier.

    This is highly prevalent in supply chains and has become an accepted norm” FPCCI considers this as a fallacious argument, as such practice cannot be employed by a company as it has to deduct withholding tax on all payments that it makes and submit returns of tax withheld to the FBR, he added.

    Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo explained that a company can only indulge in such practice if it has an ‘Undeclared Business Account’ in a bank. In that case, any such delinquent company can continue to make payments digitally; despite the change in the law; as the bank account used is ‘undeclared’ anyway.

    Mian Nasser Hyatt Maggo pointed out that, nowhere else in the world, bank cheques have been discontinued or businesses coerced to use digital mode of payment instead of bank cheques. FBR’s desire to outlaw use of bank cheques by companies is indeed a unique regulation. Digital payments are evolving in Pakistan and developed countries are way ahead in employing digital mode of payments, but they too, have not coerced companies or anyone else to limit or discontinue use of cheques, he added.

    FPCCI President emphasized that it is abundantly clear that what the FBR enunciates as problems, that lead to leakage of revenue, pertain more to the non-corporate sector than the corporate sector. The question, therefore, is why companies are being subjected to this third degree? The obvious answer lies in vested interests influencing the FBR to promote a particular mode of business by one stroke of a pen, he added.

    FPCCI suggests FTO should deal with adjudication cases
  • FBR defers digital payment provision for one month

    FBR defers digital payment provision for one month

    ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has deferred the implementation of a digital mode of payment for one month.

    The digital mode of payment has been made mandatory for the corporate sector, which was to be implemented from November 01, 2021.

    The FBR issued Circular No. 09 of 2021-22 on Monday to allow an extension in the deadline for implementation of digital mode of payment up to November 30, 2021.

    The new provision was introduced through Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021.

    The FBR in its explanation through Circular No. 07 dated September 23, 2021 said: to improve documentation, a new clause (la) has been inserted in section 21 of the Ordinance.

    Previously payments under a single head account exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand rupees, made by any taxpayer were required to be made through crossed cheque or crossed baking instruments including digital payments.

    “Through this amendment, payments made by a company under a single head of account exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand rupees other than by digital means from business bank account of the taxpayer notified to the Commissioner under section 114A of the Ordinance shall not be admissible as deductions.”

    However, certain expenditures on account of utility bills, freight charges, travel fare, and payment of taxes and fines would continue to be admissible even though paid in cash or via traditional banking instruments.

    The purpose behind this legislative enactment is to encourage digital payments and discourage traditional mode of transactions by the corporate sector in the first phase.

    However, owing to lack of total digital readiness by some corporate taxpayers, the corporate taxpayers are allowed to switch to this mode w.e.f. 01.11.2021.

    In the intervening period they may use digital payments or continue with the existing procedure of making payments by a crossed cheque drawn on a bank or by crossed bank draft or crossed pay order or any other crossed banking instrument showing transfer of amount from the business bank account of the taxpayer.

    Furthermore, any salary paid or payable exceeding twenty five thousand rupees per month has to be made through cross cheque or direct transfer of funds to the employee’s bank account under clause (m) of section 21 of the Ordinance. In order to bring this provision in conformity with newly inserted clause (la) ibid, in case of payments against salary in excess of twenty five thousand rupees per month, the mode of digital payment has been added to the available modes referred to above.

    The Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) last week in a letter to the FBR chairman stated that the implementation of digital payment was not practical at the moment.

    The PTBA made the following submissions to substantiate its claim:

    (i) It is impossible to make payment to goods carriage/transport sector by the digital means, which will create complete unrest in the goods carriage and transport sector.

    (ii) Presently, port terminal charges, wharfage charges, charges for clearance of delivery orders are paid in advance through crossed cheques or payorders. It will not be out of place to mention here that the port terminal operators and shipping lines, are unaware and are not ready for implementation of the ‘digital mode of payment.’

    (iii) It is routine business practice that advance against delivery of goods, the buyer submits its payment by way of post-dated cheques, which normally accepted by the other party and inherently a secured way of making payment. We are afraid that this law of ‘digital mode of payment’ is surely going to hamper the business activities, as it does not cater the situation and solution of such transactions.

    (iv) The similar issues are likely to arise and are to be faced by the companies for making payments to the growers of various agricultural crops such as fruits, sugarcane, rice, cotton, wheat, etc.

    (v) The various banks have fixed their own limitation on the quantity of making digital / online payments in a day and have also fixed the threshold of the amount and they do not allow to exceed the threshold limit fixed by them. In our view, this also needs a proper campaign without which the implementation of the law is not possible.

    (vi) The digital mode of payment is also impractical and is likely to affect the business transaction in the cases where petty cash payments, in aggregate exceed millions of rupees, which cannot be made digitally.

    (vii) It will not be out of place to mention that online transactions are still considered as unsecured mode, due to various type online frauds and hacking of software.

    Furthermore, a cyber attack on Pakistan’s leading bank last Friday also made the implementation in jeopardy. The PTBA has also pointed its concerns about the cyber security issue.

    FBR applies digital payment amid cyber security incident
  • FBR applies digital payment amid cyber security incident

    FBR applies digital payment amid cyber security incident

    ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) is all set to apply a digital mode of payment from November 01, 2021, for corporate entities as one of the largest banks in the country reported a cyber security incident.

    The digital mode of payment has been made mandatory from November 01, 2021. The FBR has already made necessary amendments to relevant tax laws to implement the digital payment system.

    The new provision of law was promulgated through Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, where a new sub-section (la) was inserted in Section 21 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

    The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday stated that the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) had reported a cyber security related incident which is being investigated.

    “The bank has not observed any data breach or financial loss. No other bank has reported any such incidence,” the central bank said. The SBP added that it was monitoring the situation closely to ensure safety and soundness of banking system.

    Interestingly, a day earlier, the apex tax bar of the country Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) in a letter to FBR chairman mentioned about the cyber security issues while implementing the mandatory digital mode of payment.

    “It will not be out of place to mention that online transactions are still considered as unsecured mode, due to various type online frauds and hacking of software,” according to the PTBA’s letter.

    The apex tax bar urged the tax authorities to defer the condition as the implementation was not practical at present.

    “The condition for allowable expenditure through digital mean is a contradiction with the other modes of payment through banking channels, which is historically remained in practice and accepted under the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 and this provision of law is incorporated without taking the stakeholders into confidence and it is not practically possible for many business houses,” the PTBA said.

    PTBA declares implementing digital payment not practical
  • PTBA declares implementing digital payment not practical

    PTBA declares implementing digital payment not practical

    Pakistan Tax Bar Association (PTBA) has demanded the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) extend the implementation of digital mode of payment for corporate entities the system is not practical to use at present for many business entities.

    The digital mode of payment has been made mandatory from November 01, 2021. The FBR has already made necessary amendments to relevant tax laws to implement the digital payment system.

    The PTBA in its letter to FBR chairman Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq on Friday, October 29, 2021, stated that the new provision of law was promulgated through Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021, where a new sub-section (la) was inserted in Section 21 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

    “The condition for allowable expenditure through digital mean is a contradiction with the other modes of payment through banking channels, which is historically remained in practice and accepted under the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 and this provision of law is incorporated without taking the stakeholders into confidence and it is not practically possible for many business houses,” the PTBA said.

    The apex tax bar pointed out the following reasons that will make the new provision impractical:

    (i) It is impossible to make payment to goods carriage/transport sector by the digital means, which will create complete unrest in the goods carriage and transport sector.

    (ii) Presently, port terminal charges, wharfage charges, charges for clearance of delivery orders are paid in advance through crossed cheques or payorders. It will not be out of place to mention here that the port terminal operators and shipping lines, are unaware and are not ready for implementation of the ‘digital mode of payment.’

    (iii) It is routine business practice that advance against delivery of goods, the buyer submits its payment by way of post-dated cheques, which normally accepted by the other party and inherently a secured way of making payment. We are afraid that this law of ‘digital mode of payment’ is surely going to hamper the business activities, as it does not cater the situation and solution of such transactions.

    (iv) The similar issues are likely to arise and are to be faced by the companies for making payments to the growers of various agricultural crops such as fruits, sugarcane, rice, cotton, wheat, etc.

    (v) The various banks have fixed their own limitation on the quantity of making digital / online payments in a day and have also fixed the threshold of the amount and they do not allow to exceed the threshold limit fixed by them. In our view, this also needs a proper campaign without which the implementation of the law is not possible.

    (vi) The digital mode of payment is also impractical and is likely to affect the business transaction in the cases where petty cash payments, in aggregate exceed millions of rupees, which cannot be made digitally.

    (vii) It will not be out of place to mention that online transactions are still considered as unsecured mode, due to various type online frauds and hacking of software.

    The PTBA said that in the presence of the conventional banking transactions, the move is likely to create lots of troubles for the corporate sector.

    “It is therefore, suggested that the mandatory condition of digital mode of payment for companies should be allowed along with other conventional modes of payment for at least one year and time limit for updation of business bank accounts under Section 114 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001 may be extended till June 30, 2022 for the smooth running of businesses.

    KTBA highlights issues in implementing digital payments
  • KTBA highlights issues in implementing digital payments

    KTBA highlights issues in implementing digital payments

    KARACHI: Tax practitioners have said that implementing digital payments mode for corporate entities is not possible due to various difficulties.

    Karachi Tax Bar Association (KTBA) in a letter sent on Monday to the Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed, Chairman, Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), informed that a provision of digital payment was introduced through Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021. This provisions is scheduled to implement from November 01, 2021.

    Muhammad Zeeshan Merchant, President, KTBA said that the condition is remarkably in contradiction with other modes of payment through banking channels, which is historically remained in practice and is widely accepted under the provisions of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

    “We feel that this provision of law is antibusiness; sans due diligence and is incorporated without taking the stakeholders into confidence,” he said.

    Additionally, it is not practical for many business houses, he added.

    A summary explaining certain situations (and by no means a complete synopsis) is given below:

    (a) You will appreciate that it is normal business practice that in lieu of advance delivery of goods, the buyer tenders its payment by way of post-dated cheques, which is normally accepted by the other party and is inherently a secured way of making the payment. We are afraid that this law of “digital mode of payment” is surely going to hamper the business activities, as it does not cater the situation and solution of such transactions.

    (b) Normally, it is a practice that, the port terminal charges, wharfage charges, charges for clearance of delivery orders etc., are paid in advance through crossed cheques or pay-orders. We understand that presently, the businesses, including but not limited to Port Terminal Operators and Shipping Lines, are unaware and are not ready for implantation of this “digital mode of payment”. In our view, it needs a rigorous awareness campaign for them.

    (c) Furthermore, we feel that the similar issues are likely to arise and are to be faced by the Companies for making payments to the growers of various agricultural crops such as sugar cane, rice, cotton, wheat etc. We feel that a rigorous campaign is also required for the recipients of such payments.

    (d) Moreover, in our view this “digital mode of payment” is also impractical and is likely to affect the business transactions in the cases where petty cash payments, in aggregate exceed millions of rupees, which cannot be made digitally.

    (e) Furthermore, we understand that various banks have fixed their own limitation on the quantity of making digital/online payments in a day and have also fixed the threshold of the amount and they do not allow to exceed the threshold limit fixed by them. In our view, this also needs a proper campaign without which the implementation of the law is not possible.

     The KTBA said that the tax authorities would come across with the other impediments on the subject in times to come.

    We strongly believe that, unless there is a wide off the mark in conventional banking transaction, this move is likely to create lots of trouble for the Corporate Sector.

    It is, therefore, suggested that the mandatory condition of “digital mode of payment” for Companies as envisaged U/s. 21 (la) of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001, be allowed to run simultaneously with other conventional modes of payments for at least a year so that their business is not affected and is smoothly run till they are aware of this change in the mode of payment.

    FBR suspends credit notes against unregistered supplies
  • Digital payments continues upward trajectory: SBP

    Digital payments continues upward trajectory: SBP

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has said that the digital payment continued upward trajectory during fiscal year 2020/2021.

    The SBP on Friday released its Annual Payment Systems Review (PSR) for the fiscal year 2020-21, which shows strong growth in the space of digital financial transactions in the country.

    According to the SBP, transactions processed through SBP’s large-value payments segment, known as Real-time Inter-Bank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM), recorded YoY growth of 60.0 per cent by number of transactions (volume) and 12.8 per cent by value.

    Similarly, overall e-Banking transactions registered YoY growth of 31.1 per cent which highlights substantial increase in adaption of digital means for payments.

    This growth was spurred by major uptake in mobile banking (29 per cent increase in the number of users, 133.6 per cent and 178.7 per cent increase in volume and value respectively) and internet banking (32 per cent increase in the number of users, 65.1 per cent and 91.7 per cent increase in volume and value respectively).

    This promising growth was achieved on the back of 27 banks offering app-based banking along with other entities offering innovative payment solutions for accepting digital transactions.

    During FY21, digital payments adoption for retail transactions continued to show an upward trend. Due to the active efforts of the SBP, the number of card accepting POS machines saw a growth of 47 per cent. Transactions processed through POS machines reached as high as 88.8 million amounting to PKR 453.1 billion, showing YoY growth of 26.3 per cent by volume and 24.4 per cent by value of transactions.

    The same trend was reflected in e-commerce transactions as well. The number of e-commerce merchants reached 3,003 which shows double-digit growth of 76 per cent.

    Consumers carried out 21.9 million online transactions worth Rs60.6 billion on these locally registered e-Commerce Merchants during the year FY21 which amounts to significant YoY growth of 114.8 per cent and 74.1 per cent by volume and value of transactions respectively. These trends point toward healthy growth in fostering a more digitally integrated economy.

    Similarly, on the card issuance side, as on end-June 2021, there were 45.9 million total cards in circulation that mainly comprised of Debit cards (65.0 per cent), Social welfare cards (18.4 per cent), ATM only cards (12.6 per cent), Credit cards (3.7 per cent), and Prepaid cards (0.3 per cent).

    Collectively, these cards processed 708.7 million transactions amounting to Rs8.4 trillion during FY2021. The number of debit cards at the end of FY 2021 has been 29.8 million, observing a YoY growth of 11.8 per cent and annualized growth of 13.8 per cent during the last 4 years. Transactions processed through ATMs also grew to 598.7 million with the total value of Rs8.1 trillion.

    This amounts to growth of 16.9 per cent by volume and 25.6 per cent by value on YoY basis.

    The country’s core payment systems infrastructure remained operationally resilient. All channels of payment systems showed significant growth. SBP expects that going forward, the momentum of growth across all key areas of the digital payments ecosystem will continue to strengthen.

    Modernizing the country’s payment system and infrastructure is a key priority, for which SBP will continue to work on providing an enabling regulatory environment.

    Digital payment facility made must for corporate clients
  • Tax laws amended to include digital payment

    Tax laws amended to include digital payment

    ISLAMABAD: Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Thursday said that tax law has been amended to include mode of digital payment.

    To improve documentation, a new clause (la) has been inserted through Tax Laws (Third Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 in section 21 of the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.

    Previously payments under a single head account exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand rupees, made by any taxpayer were required to be made through crossed cheque or crossed baking instruments including digital payments.

    Through this amendment, payments made by a company under a single head of account exceeding two hundred and fifty thousand rupees other than by digital means from business bank account of the taxpayer notified to the Commissioner under section 114A of the Ordinance shall not be admissible as deductions.

    However, certain expenditures on account of utility bills, freight charges, travel fare, and payment of taxes and fines would continue to be admissible even though paid in cash or via traditional banking instruments.

    The purpose behind this legislative enactment is to encourage digital payments and discourage traditional mode of transactions by the corporate sector in the first phase. However, owing to lack of total digital readiness by some corporate taxpayers, the corporate taxpayers are allowed to switch to this mode w.e.f. November 01, 2021.

    In the intervening period they may use digital payments or continue with the existing procedure of making payments by a crossed cheque drawn on a bank or by crossed bank draft or crossed pay order or any other crossed banking instrument showing transfer of amount from the business bank account of the taxpayer.

    The FBR further said that currently, any salary paid or payable exceeding twenty five thousand rupees per month has to be made through cross cheque or direct transfer of funds to the employee’s bank account under clause (m) of section 21 of the Ordinance.

    In order to bring this provision in conformity with newly inserted clause (la) ibid, in case of payments against salary in excess of twenty five thousand rupees per month, the mode of digital payment has been added to the available modes referred to above.

    Prosecution for sharing unauthorized information
  • SBP issues regulations for payment card security

    SBP issues regulations for payment card security

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday issued regulations for payment card security to curtail the risk of card-skimmig.

    Referring to PSD Circular No. 05 of 2016, the SBP said that in light of the progress made by industry on implementation of central bank’s instructions issued vide the afore-mentioned circular, it has now been decided that:

    i. In order to curtail the risk of card-skimming, existing magnetic stripe cards and fallback to magnetic stripe on EMV cards shall be blocked by Card Service Providers (CSPs) at host end. For customers travelling abroad, CSPs shall have the functionality to turn on fallback upon specific customer request. Further, CSPs shall ensure that their cardholders activate their new EMV Chip and PIN cards well before the deadline of June 30, 2021 to avoid any inconvenience.

    ii. CSPs after implementing EMVCo’s 3DSecure protocol may enable e-commerce transactions by default on their card portfolios for both local and cross-border e-commerce transactions. Accordingly, for all 3DSecure compliant CSPs, requirement of customer consent, as per clause 4.2.3. (b) of PSD Circular No. 5 of 2016 shall be considered as complied with. However, CSPs shall ensure that they fully inform their customers about the risks of using their cards for cross border e-commerce transactions.

    iii. CSP’s shall provide their customers with the option to activate, enable and disable their cards using mobile banking applications and internet banking portals. Furthermore, options to enable cards for usage on various channels like ATMs, POS and e-commerce shall also be available through mobile and internet banking channels. However, the use of at least Two Factor Authentication (2FA) shall be mandatory.

    iv. In order to enhance customer experience and reduce checkout time on payment counters/terminals, CSPs may relax the requirement of Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) as required vide Section 4.2. (b) of PSD Circular No. 05 of 2016 for card present transactions (including contactless payments either through a card or through mobile devices) up to Rs. 3,000 per transaction. However, CSPs shall ensure that they fully inform their customers and adequately protect them from undue liability arising out of any potential misuse of this facility.

    v. For refund payments pertaining to both card present and card not present transactions, CSPs shall immediately credit their respective customer account upon the receipt of funds.

    vi. To facilitate their customers, CSPs shall provide them the facility of lodging their complaints and disputes using mobile apps and internet banking portals without the need for physically visiting their premises. For expedited investigation and resolution of complaints/disputes, CSPs shall arrange for obtaining necessary data/information from their customers digitally or through their call centers.

    The card service providers shall bring the above measures and the changes being introduced to the knowledge of their customers by running awareness campaigns on print, digital and social media. They shall also ensure that customers are fully facilitated while using their payment cards.

    CSPs are advised to meticulously comply with the instructions contained herein by June 30, 2021. Failure to do so shall attract penal action under relevant laws and regulations.

  • SBP directs banks to facilitate taxpayers in e-payment of duty, taxes

    SBP directs banks to facilitate taxpayers in e-payment of duty, taxes

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday directed banks to facilitate taxpayers in their payments of duty and taxes through digital/electronic (e-payment) system.

    The SBP said that the collection of Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) taxes and duties through Alternate Delivery Channels (ADC) was initiated in March 2018 in parallel to the traditional paper based manual system.

    The ADC mechanism allowed the taxpayers to pay their taxes through internet/mobile banking, Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) or Over-the-Counter (OTC) of 16000 branches of commercial banks across the country.

    It also enabled FBR and Government Accounting Bodies to realize the tax proceeds on almost real time basis and record the transactions in their accounting system electronically.

    Considering the successful and smooth operations of ADC platform for over two years, FBR made it mandatory for Corporate Taxpayers to pay their taxes only through ADC mechanism from August 17, 2020.

    The other two categories i.e. Association of Persons (AOPs) and individual taxpayers will also be gradually shifted to the ADC mechanism thus completely eliminating the traditional tax collection system.

    As another step towards digitization of taxes and duties collections, the FBR and Pakistan Customs have decided that effective 20 January 2021, Custom Duties exceeding Rs.1 million will be collected through ADC mechanism only. FBR and SBP have conducted a number of webinars and awareness sessions for the business community to ensure a smooth transition to ADC mechanism.

    The SBP appreciated the effective role and contribution of banks in making this initiative a huge success, there are still complaints and concerns by the taxpayers about low awareness of banks’ field staff about the ADC particularly the OTC mechanism.

    It is therefore, advised and reiterated that following measures are taken on immediate priority:

    i. The banks’ branches have a fully functional OTC system integrated with 1Link to collect the Government taxes and duties. The branch staff should have full understanding of the system and should facilitate the tax payers in payment of taxes.

    ii. As the custom duty is dependent on exchange rate, it changes with the change in exchange rate. Thus, there may be cases where the taxpayer generates Payment Slip ID (PSID) on day 1 and approaches the bank for payment, the next day and thus the amount of duty reflected on the Taxpayer’s PSID is different from the one appearing on the bank’s terminal. In such cases if the Cheque presented is of lesser amount, the banks shall accept the additional amount in cash or Cheque as per the convenience of the taxpayer. Further, in case the Cheque amount is greater than the custom duty appearing on the bank’s terminal, the excess amount shall be credited in the tax payer’s account with the bank.

    iii. There have been complaints that the banks’ branches do not accept the Cheque drawn on another branch of their bank for payment of taxes and ask the taxpayer to visit the branch on which the Cheque is drawn. As all bank branches are online, the taxpayer can pay the taxes in any branch of his/her bank. The banks shall ensure that all their branches are accepting the taxes and duties through ADC mechanism and that their customer can pay the tax in any branch of his/her bank.

    iv. The banks shall send SMS or email messages to their clients informing them that “They can pay their taxes and custom duty through internet/mobile banking, ATMs or in any branch of their bank by submitting a Cheque of the tax/duty amount and PSID.”

  • Meezan Bank to launch digital payments using Haball platform

    Meezan Bank to launch digital payments using Haball platform

    KARACHI: Haball, Pakistan’s leading B2B payments automation platform, in partnership with Meezan Bank – Pakistan’s first and largest Islamic bank, has recently announced the launch of Blink Direct, a service that will enable digital payments for Pakistani businesses and their supply chain partners.

    The new service will accelerate digital payments to payees while completely removing the friction caused by manual reconciliation errors. Meezan Bank customers will be able to link their bank accounts with the Haball App directly for performing transactions while reaping the benefits of a cashless supply chain, a statement said on Thursday.

    The Blink Direct facility, will allow Haball to address the challenge of delays in invoice reconciliation; an issue that plagues many large and small businesses, and causes payment delays as a result of which the working capital of the business is not managed efficiently.

    The service also maps each payment, invoice, pay order etc. to the context of why a payment was initiated.

    This allows corporate and distributors to reconcile their invoices and payments automatically, reducing errors and time required to reconcile every payment.

    Meezan Bank is the first bank in Pakistan to enable paperless digital payments for businesses using the Haball platform.

    Blink Direct is now available as a standard offering in the Haball App and Platform suite, eliminating manual payments and offering businesses greater transparency for the entire value chain including retailers, distributors and corporate entities.

    Omer Bin Ahsan, CEO – Haball commented on the occasion, “Blink Direct enables money to move digitally throughout the supply chain in the fastest and most reliable manner.

    “Haball has naturally progressed towards aggregating multiple payment options available in the country to give customers the freedom to transact through whichever medium they prefer, whether through their bank’s existing channel, through Haball’s App or through branches and agent networks.”

    Ariful Islam, Deputy CEO – Meezan Bank said: “By extending direct payment services to its customers using Haball, Meezan Bank is delighted to be able to solve the problems currently faced by many companies – needless roadblocks in the payments value chain and provide seamless and integrated digital payment services to enable a cashless supply chain.

    “We are very excited to be part of this innovation and are confident Inshallah that the supply chain vertical will soon benefit from the value of digital payment solutions.”