Askari Bank, UnionPay Int'l enter pact

Askari Bank Limited (AKBL) and UnionPay International (UPI) have entered into an agreement to convert AKBL existing mag stripe cards to UnionPay QuickPass (NFC) and EMV Chip Cards in Pakistan.

In addition to the agreement, MoU was also signed for card acquiring business and remittance through Union Pay Money Express.

The initiative will allow AKBL customers to enjoy convenience of contactless payments 'TAP & GO' while keeping the payments safe and secure.

EMV Chip cards provide the cardholders with the highest possible security and the embedded chip contains encrypted information which greatly lessens the possibility of theft of cardholder information.

The agreement would allow AKBL customers to conduct transactions at 55 million merchants and over 2.9 million ATMs worldwide along with 10 million online merchant sites.

The partnership agreement was signed by Syed Taha Afzal, Head of Consumer Banking, Askari Bank Limited and Han Wang, General Manager, UnionPay International Middle East in Shanghai, China in the presence of Abid Sattar, President & CEO, Askari Bank Limited, Khurshid Zafar, Group Head, Corporate and Investment Banking, Askari Bank Limited and Carlson Li, Chief Marketing Officer, UnionPay International, Nadeem Haroon, Country Manager and Kashif Ali, Head of Business Development- Pakistan, UnionPay International.-PR