Mastercard and NADRA collaborate to upgrade Pakistan’s ID cards with e-payment facility
Pakistani citizens will now be able to use their national identity cards (CNICs) to carry out financial transactions and receive government disbursements. This announcement was made at World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017 being held in Davos, Switzerland.
Mastercard, leading global payments & technology company, has announced a strategic collaboration with Pakistan’s NADRA Technologies to optimize National ID cards with electronic payments functionality.
“The move will allow Pakistani citizens to carry out financial transactions and receive government disbursements by utilising the unique 13-digit identification number on their identity card,” said a statement issued by the company.
Citizens will also be able to use their National ID to send and receive domestic and international remittances, eliminating the requirement to physically visit a bank branch or currency exchange house to meet their money transfer needs.
Under the terms of the agreement, Mastercard said it would also use its next-generation payment processing technologies to process all online payments made by Pakistani citizens for the issuance of CNICs, passports or any other document provisioned by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) .
The fresh agreement between two sides was reached at the World Economic Forum annual meeting currently taking place in Davos, Switzerland.
Mastercard will use its next-generation payment technologies to process the online payments made by Pakistani citizens in the issuance of CNIC, passport or any other document provisioned by NADRA. Mastercard’s country manager Pakistan and Afghanistan, Aurangzaib Khan said.
“Our collaboration with NADRA is a testament to our commitment towards building a reliable and secure ecosystem for online payments in Pakistan,” said the statement.
“The new service will make international remittances more convenient both for the sender and beneficiary. This is significant since Pakistan is one of the top receivers of remittances from abroad. Combining the national identity card with payment features will transform it into a powerful, multi-purpose channel for citizens to carry out financial transactions, and will facilitate faster and more efficient delivery of vital government services.”
This partnership is just the beginning of financial inclusion and digitization of the whole process, according to an official. The objective is to utilize NADRA database to streamline money transaction and bring transparency in the economic system.