Visa’s Leila Serhan says Pakistan presents significant opportunity for digital payments

KARACHI: Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for North Africa, Levant and Pakistan (NALP) at Visa Leila Serhan highlighted the importance of cybersecurity measures in promoting the growth of digital payments in Pakistan during an interview with The News.

Following are excerpts of her conversation:

Q: What initiative is Visa taking to safeguard users and support partner banks to combat fraud and cybercrime in Pakistan?

A: Cyber security is a top priority for anyone in the financial services industry, especially for Visa. We provide cutting-edge artificial intelligence-powered risk and fraud management solutions to our users and partner financial institutions, which greatly assist in every step of the transaction process.

The technologies like tokenization not only enhance user experience but also strengthens security by converting the 16-digit card number into a token, significantly improving security. Visa aims to introduce tokenization technology to all its partners and the entire ecosystem to safeguard consumer data.

In Pakistan, security and fraud issues, such as social engineering, are common when making digital payments. Therefore, there is a need to educate users not to share their online transaction processing data or card information via email. Furthermore, the user card verification value is confidential and should not be shared with anyone.

Visa recently announced a strategic partnership with 1Link, the country’s largest payment service provider, to simplify remittances in the country and promote digital transactions. The partnership involves integrating the Visa Alias Directory Service within the 1LINK network to streamline incoming remittances, enhance user experience and protect sensitive payment credential information.

Remittances are crucial for the Pakistani economy, as the country is one of the top 10 remittance-receiving nations in the world, according to World Bank data. Visa has simplified the remittance process, allowing individuals whether in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia or any other market to send money back home to their parents or family using a mobile number. The Visa Alias directory facilitates fast and secure transactions, and users can conveniently send and receive money directly from their mobile phones.By providing a seamless user experience and ensuring convenience, security, and cost-effectiveness in remittance transactions, efforts are made to discourage the use of illegal remittance flows to the country. This is one of our key objectives.

Q: What efforts is Visa making to increase the acceptance of contactless payments by small businesses?

A: We are collaborating closely with banks and other stakeholders to offer customized financial products and low-cost acceptance solutions, enabling small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to accept payments in a cost-effective manner. Tap-to-phone is a key part of our strategy, and we aim to expand the reach of small and micro enterprises able to accept digital payments by 10 times. We are forming numerous partnerships to promote financial literacy, expand small businesses and enhance consumer financial inclusion.

Q: How does Visa collaborate with government entities like the State Bank of Pakistan?

A: We have had a very positive dialogue with the State Bank of Pakistan. It is great that there is an active dialogue and partnership between the government and companies like Visa in the private sector. We constantly discuss how to improve the consumer experience in Pakistan, both domestically and internationally.

We also understand the importance of remittances to Pakistan’s economy. Therefore, we are looking into money movement solutions that can benefit the country. Cybersecurity is another important topic, and we take pride in our ongoing investment in security, having invested more than $10 billion in the past 10 years. We aim to bring this expertise to Pakistan to strengthen its digital financial system.

Moreover, we discussed the importance of including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the financial system and providing them with access to capital and lending facilities. We also had extensive conversations about Pakistan’s instant payment system, Raast. We believe that any initiative that promotes digital payments is positive, and we have experience working with real-time payment systems worldwide to enhance cybersecurity, risk management and fraud prevention.

Q: In what ways the Pakistani market is different from other markets?

A: The youth in Pakistan plays a crucial role in driving the digital economy. Pakistan presents a significant opportunity for digital payments, but there is still much work to be done in terms of financial inclusion. The country’s digital and urbanizing youth population presents an excellent opportunity for digital payment providers. The infrastructure has been rapidly evolving in recent years.

It is important to consider how many young people will be integrated into the financial system and what solutions and services we can offer to facilitate their inclusion. We are collaborating with banks to ensure that young people are included in the financial system.

Q: Do you anticipate that the entry of retail digital banks in the Pakistani market will pose a challenge to international payment schemes like Visa?

A: Not at all. On the contrary, we see digital banks as we see many others around the world. We have numerous partnerships with banks, both traditional and digital, across the Middle East, Europe, and the US. We view them as a significant driver for financial inclusion due to the lower cost of acquisition associated with digital banking.

This allows for greater financial inclusion. We are eager to work closely with these digital banks to provide them with the appropriate products and solutions for their consumers once they commence operations. We are actively engaged in conversations with many of these digital banks.