National Bank of Pakistan has entered into a strategic partnership with ISTIQEME to strengthen the digital payments ecosystem in Pakistan through the expansion of merchant QR code infrastructure and enhanced onboarding support for businesses. The collaboration aims to accelerate the adoption of cashless transactions by enabling more merchants to accept digital payments seamlessly across the country, aligning with ongoing efforts to promote financial inclusion and digitisation within the banking sector. The initiative reflects a broader shift in Pakistan’s financial landscape where banks and fintech enablers are increasingly working together to modernise payment systems and reduce reliance on cash-based transactions.
Under the partnership framework, ISTIQEME will play a key role in supporting National Bank of Pakistan’s merchant acquisition strategy by facilitating end-to-end onboarding processes, including account opening support, deployment of QR code payment solutions, and merchant training sessions. The company will also assist in generating merchant leads and providing operational support to bank branches, ensuring smoother implementation of digital payment acceptance infrastructure. These efforts are designed to expand access to formal digital payment channels for small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in urban and semi-urban markets where cash transactions remain dominant.
Officials from National Bank of Pakistan stated that the collaboration represents a shared vision to empower merchants with secure and efficient digital payment solutions while strengthening the overall payment infrastructure in line with Pakistan’s cashless economy objectives. The partnership is also expected to support the State Bank of Pakistan’s broader mandate of improving financial inclusion by bringing more unbanked and underbanked segments into the formal financial system through QR-based payment systems that are cost-effective and easy to adopt.
The initiative further highlights ISTIQEME’s role as a digital onboarding and financial enablement platform working with multiple banking institutions across Pakistan to scale merchant adoption of digital tools. By combining the bank’s extensive nationwide reach with ISTIQEME’s field deployment capabilities, the collaboration aims to increase the acceptance of digital payments at retail level and contribute to a more integrated financial ecosystem. Over time, such partnerships are expected to strengthen Pakistan’s digital economy infrastructure and improve transaction efficiency across the retail and services sectors.
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