Bank Alfalah (BAL), that’s been on the forefront when it comes to digitizing the payments space locally, has just recently announced an agreement with Punjab Beverages Company (PBC) to initiate a pilot in digitizing the last mile retailer in the PBC supply chain. The main objective of the project is to digitize incentive payouts and expense reimbursements made by PBC to its distributors and retailers.
Currently, the payouts are either made directly to the retailers or through the distributors on PBC issued instruments, coupons and/or cash. This collaboration shall result in the introduction of a PBC branded debit card powered by BAL.
The signing was followed by a launch event hosted by PBC in Faisalabad. Over 200 retailers and 2 distributors were invited at the event who unanimously appreciated the effort and showed keen interest in acquiring the PBC-branded debit card.
Head of Branchless Banking at Bank Alfalah, Amaar Naveed Ikhlas said:
“Bank Alfalah is committed to achieving the long-term goal of financial inclusion in Pakistan and also bridge the service divide between various social and economic groups within the country. We are excited to have PBC as our partner to initiate this pilot and test our product to gain insights into retailer behavior on the digitized payments platform. The insights gained from this pilot will help both BAL and PBC to scale up, nurture and grow the digitized payment ecosystem.”
CEO at Punjab Beverages, Omar Farooq Khan said:
“Punjab Beverages is committed to digitizing our retail supply chain payments which will not only make the payouts real-time, but also increase retailer confidence and loyalty towards PBC. We are confident that our partnership with BAL will bring access to finance for small business owners through a suite of financial products and services with a focus on PBC supply chain payments.”
Development of a digital payment ecosystem in partnership with PBC will act as a catalyst to extend the financial outreach and convenience to last mile retailer in the retail supply chain. This will make the payouts real-time as opposed to days that it currently takes to reach the distributors and retailers.
