Mastercard and the Bank of Punjab (BOP) have expanded their two-decade-long partnership to cover the commercial segment in Pakistan.
This expanded partnership will include solutions for large corporate entities, small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), freelancers and gig workers, the companies said in a Wednesday (Feb. 14) press release.
“We are proud to venture into the SME [small and medium-sized enterprise] space with Mastercard,” Nofel Daud, group head strategy and strategic initiatives at BOP, said in the release. “In Pakistan, this segment was previously largely neglected, whereas freelancers faced barriers to entry.”
One of the new offerings enabled by this collaboration is Mastercard BusinessCards that cater to SMBs, according to the release. BOP will become the first bank in Pakistan to issue these cards, offering them to the country’s 5.2 million SMBs.
Another product now offered by BOP is the Foreign Currency Business Debit Card, which enables freelancers to digitize their payments, the release said. BOP will offer this to Pakistan’s 2.5 million freelancers.
A third product to be introduced by this partnership is the Mastercard Corporate Card, which helps larger businesses manage payments and reduce friction when making B2B payments, per the release. This card enables corporates to manage employees’ travel, entertainment and procurement expenses with a digital payment solution.
“In line with our pledge to bring 50 million SMEs worldwide into the digital economy by 2025, we are harnessing the power of our technology to help businesses of all sizes pay and get paid,” Arslan Khan, vice president and country business manager, Pakistan at Mastercard, said in the release.
In another recent development in the country, banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform Neem introduced a payment infrastructure for digital businesses in Pakistan in September, saying it aimed to help them leverage embedded finance.
Neem said at the time that Pakistan’s economy is in the midst of “widespread digitalization” as consumers embrace digital products and financial services.
“Nonetheless, the fragmented payment systems continue to pose significant challenges for digital businesses in Pakistan,” the company said at the time. “These systems hinder their growth and cause issues with delayed revenue collections and costly operational inefficiencies.”
For all PYMNTS B2B coverage, subscribe to the daily B2B Newsletter.