Country’s financial landscape revolutionized: Cloud services launched

ISLAMABAD: Powered by Huawei, Khazana Enterprise launched first Fintech and national in-country cloud services, revolutionizing the financial landscape in Pakistan.

Khazana Enterprise is planning to invest $10 million first phase in Pakistan and more is planned for second phase. Pakistan data must be resided inside the country, as some companies like Microsoft and others take several hundred millions of dollars out of Pakistan for hosting outside, the company representative added.

Huawei Technologies Ltd and Khazana Enterprise have taken the monumental step to build the first of its kind, hyper-scaler financial cloud in the country. They announced this at the launch event attended by key leaders from the financial industry, government and business sectors of Pakistan.

The speakers termed the first national in-country Cloud a leap… not just for the ICT industry in Pakistan but for the economy as a whole. Pakistan is denied of millions of dollars for access to Cloud Services.

No longer will that be the case. This initiative paves the way for entities to opt for a solution in Pakistan that benefits local businesses and the exchequer, they added.

Sima Kamil, deputy governor State Bank of Pakistan said, the SBP is appreciative and welcomes the launch of Huawei cloud. The SBP has been aggressively working formulating regulatory framework for the Cloud Services.

This will give incentives to other international players because their entry and competition is always good. She said SBP approved the cloud for five main reasons.

First, this indigenous model addresses the issue of data security and allows the data to remain within the country subject to the relevant laws and regulations; secondly data security and privacy which gives more control on the sensitive information; thirdly it removes latency and improves efficiency by providing faster access; fourthly boosts economic growth and employment generation and lastly cost optimization. Concluding, data economy, huge data dependence needs to be reduced and cloud infrastructure is vital to that.

Digital banking has created expansion and convenience for people in the country. The importance of cloud infrastructure is very high, she said, adding innovation in technology is now highlighting the data investment aspect.

“We will be regularly monitoring and independent assessment will be vital to address any vulnerabilities. We have seen some serious cyber-attacks and it has not been easy to cope with them,” she added.

Akif Saeed, chairman Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) said the SECP is actively working on the development of a conducive investment ecosystem to provide digital financial solutions gaining mainstream momentum.

The SECP chairman urged the financial sector as well as regulator alike to keep track of emerging technologies, regulatory changes, cyber threats, and the introduction of new international standards. This requires modernizing while augmenting current digital financial system to ensure safe, efficient operation of systems across Pakistan.

Foresee financial services have the potential to grow at a larger scale through cloud native technologies encouraging improved capital flow, data localization for AI-based future products, increased attention to R&D and adoption of greener technologies keeping in view the regulatory requirements and data security measures.

He stated that Pakistan’s tech industry holds enormous potential to grow and SECP continues to recognize and advocate the need to embrace technologies as a critical enabler for moving forward.

As part of the SECP’s reform agenda, the SECP has already initiated a digital transformation program. It is focused at eliminating entry barriers and proactively supporting innovation, simplifying regulatory processes and reducing the cost of doing business and promoting financial inclusion alongside improving access to finance.

Akif stated that the targeted approach has yielded many positive outcomes, primarily in the shape of digital financial solutions gaining mainstream momentum. Most recently, SECP successfully launched LEAP Phase-1 for registering limited liability partnership through a seamless, efficient, and secure platform.

He informed that the regulatory frameworks for equity crowdfunding, fractionalization of real assets, robo-advisory, P2P lending and digital insurance, have all been developed based on the learnings from the regulatory sandbox program.

The SECP chairman was optimist that Huawei’s hyperscale, federated cloud services shall be instrumental in providing local and international services at par with global best practices.

I foresee financial services have the potential to grow at a larger scale through cloud native technologies encouraging improved capital flow, data localization for AI-based future products, increased attention to R&D and adoption of greener technologies keeping in view the regulatory requirements and data security measures, he added.

He said that data is the new wealth in the world of technology, however, its protection must be ensured. However, with this top-notch partnership of Huawei and Khazana, regulator and end user’s concerns like data sovereignty and security seem to be addressed”.

Nadeem Hussain the Executive Chairman of Planet N Group said in his welcome note; “I congratulate Huawei Management and Khazana team for this successful cloud launch which is first of its type. If you want digital Pakistan, then you have tons of data and this data needs to be stored somewhere either physical storage or on a cloud and the world has demonstrated the benefits of cloud over physical data storage i.e. flexibility, agility, cost cyber security etc.

Huawei Cloud is the answer to all above being one of the top cloud service providers. Lastly, SBP is giving an enabling environment for the in-country cloud that can be used both for the material or non-material data”

Bob Din, chairman Khazana said, “I congratulate the tech industry of Pakistan specially Khazana Team and Huawei Cloud Team for this progressive initiative and the conducive environment provided by the regulators in Pakistan for the development of Cloud Infrastructure”

Shahzad Rasheed, CEO Huawei Cloud Pakistan said “We are living in the era of disruption, either disrupt or get disrupted. The upcoming time will completely change the way banks have been operating.

We see a lot of changes in the next two years and only banking sector has the potential of $7 billion on account of technology changes and transformation during this period.

“Huawei is utilizing around 25 percent of its total revenues of around $100 billion on research and development (R&D) to spur growth through innovation and in Pakistan,” said Rasheed while addressing at the launch of annual report.

This digital transformation of organizations is not possible without using digital divers like AI, IOT, Machine Learning and these digital drivers need to be hosted somewhere on a cloud and Huawei Cloud differentiate itself in two ways; first, being one of the three hyper-scaler federated cloud available in Pakistan; second, for the digital banks, Huawei Cloud provides software services and out of book solutions just by a single click”.

“Our belief is that technology should empower our customers and drive economic growth. With our Fintech and national cloud services, we aim to revolutionize the financial landscape in Pakistan,” stated Bob Din, chairman of Khazana Enterprise.

Furthermore, Nadeem Khan, CEO of Khazana Enterprise, stated that Khazana’s National Cloud services will establish a robust and secure infrastructure for businesses and public sector organizations to store, manage, and analyze their data. This will enhance operational efficiency, reduce costs, and foster innovation across various sectors. Khazana envisions a digital ecosystem where businesses can thrive, collaborate, and contribute to Pakistan’s economic growth.

Khazana official said that they are planning to invest $10 million first phase in Pakistan and more is planned for the second phase. He also said that Pakistan data must be resided inside the country, as some companies like Microsoft and others take several hundred millions of dollars out of Pakistan for hosting outside.

Huawei Cloud has been deployed in 29 Regions around the world and is fast becoming the preferred choice of customers in industries such as finance and manufacturing to migrate to the cloud. Founded in 1987, Huawei is a leading global provider of information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices.

Huawei has 207,000 employees and operate in over 170 countries and regions, serving more than three billion people around the world. They are committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world.

This event further solidified this collaboration by signing MOUs with fintech companies that included Raqami Islamic Digital Bank. Heng Shan and TitliS Technology.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023