Calamity-hit crops: Easypaisa Pakistan plans to launch micro insurance programme

Easypaisa Pakistan is planning to launch micro insurance program, covering only calamity-hit crops from next year (middle 2016), said Yahya Khan Vice President Chief Financial Services Officer Head of Easypaisa. The micro insurance would be a pilot project on satellite based information and would cover only natural disaster hit crops, said Yahya Khan while briefing the media in connection with 6th anniversary of Easypaisa services, the first and largest branch-less banking service and a joint venture of Tameer Microfinance Bank and Telenor Pakistan.
Though agriculture/crop insurance is one of the expensive insurance programs, said Yahya Khan, adding that negotiations in this regard are in final stages with insurance company. He further said that Easypaisa is the first and largest mobile financial service in Pakistan with serving 16 million active subscribers with network of 70,000 Easypaisa shops.
He said that throughput of the services remained at Rs 500 billion approximately 2 percent of the country' GDP in 2014, while a target of Rs 700 billion for 2015. The service is not only facilitating customers as deep social service but also bringing handsome revenue to the government kitty in terms of taxes. It is providing 70000 direct jobs to retailers, besides 0.2 million indirect jobs, said Yahya Khan, adding that 4.5 million customers pay their bill per month.
Replying to a question Yahya Khan said that the State Bank of Pakistan regulations framework for the branchless banking brought worldwide appreciation as it also playing vital role in the anti- money laundering drive. The service is targeting 50 million mobile accounts in next five years as it has great potential. It is the only industry of the country registering 30 percent growth, he added. He further said that Easypaisa has obtained the license for international home remittances along with door step delivery, however due to lack attention it was not utilized fully. It is being planned to review the service from next year, he added.
About the Easypaisa services, Yahya Khan said that the journey in these 6 years highlighting the global awards. Easypaisa was launched in 2009 as a joint venture between Telenor Pakistan and Tameer Bank. Only 15 percent of people had access to financial services, while 70 percent plus had mobile phones. Before Easypaisa, customers had to travel long distances, manage lots of paperwork (KYC), and stand in long queues for hours and limited to specific working hours, said Yahya Khan, adding that Easypaisa first introduced unique, instant, safe, secure, convenient, and available to everyone.
He said Easypaisa Mobile Accounts are a game changer in the way people bank in Pakistan. It is a service that allow to perform daily bank related tasks from the convenience of home or wherever without ever having to walk into a Bank. With the entire Telecom customer base verified through Biometric Verification System, opening a Mobile account is as simple as dialing an activation string (*345*3737), for Telenor subscribers. Everyone requires basic services like the need to pay a utility bill, transfer money, make payments, savings, loans etc but the formal banking infrastructure is either limited or completely absent in most parts of the country. The Easypaisa Mobile Account makes all these services available on phone.
Easypaisa's long term vision is to eradicate poverty and to empower society through financial services. The service has also launched Near Field Communication (NFC) solution going to be a major breakthrough for the country enabling customers to pay through Easypay NFC. The service is available at Dolmen Mall and Ocean Mall in Karachi and Centaurs, etc in Islamabad.
It is a convenient way for customers to pay at retail outlets by simply tapping an Easypay NFC sticker with the retailer's Point-of-Sale (POS) terminal, and the customer authorizing the transaction with their PIN on their mobile phone. With the PIN, Easypay NFC payments thus become the most secure payment mechanism in the country he added.