WEF’s Edison Alliance celebrates AMA’s success

KARACHI:

Organized by the Edison Alliance of the World Economic Forum (WEF), in partnership with the Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG), a Spotlight Day was held on Pakistan’s Asaan Mobile Account (AMA) program on November 7, 2023.

The event, ‘Bridging the Financial Inclusion Gap in Pakistan’, brought together key figures from prominent government offices and private sector entities, including Fortune 500 companies, to commemorate the triumph of financial inclusion and women’s empowerment.

Controlled by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the AMA initiative was developed to provide basic financial services to underserved and unbanked populations.

Supported by VRG, this ‘Banking the Unbanked’ programme, in partnership with WEF’s Edison Alliance, is aligned with Pakistan’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS), which champions financial inclusion, women’s empowerment and community empowerment to promote economic and social progress. .

Praising the AMA initiative, WEF Edison Alliance Head Claude Dyer thanked Zarrar Sehgal, Chairman Pathfinder Group and VRG, for their successful partnership and expressed his support for future initiatives.

Sehgal emphasized the importance of digital financial inclusion, highlighting the success of AMA as a testament to the technological know-how that exists in Pakistan.

He emphasized that this indigenous product could serve as a low-cost model not only for domestic use but also for export to help developing countries integrate their underprivileged and unbanked populations into the financial network.

Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar recognized the AMA system as a key component of NFIS and acknowledged the substantial success of the ‘Banking the Unbanked’ initiative, which has increased women’s participation to 38%.

He highlighted the remarkable ease with which any Pakistani with a valid national ID can now digitally open a bank account in less than two minutes, even without internet access.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^u2023.

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