PayFast by APPS (“PayFast”) is proud to become the first fintech in Pakistan to partner with international payments leader Visa through Cybersource. The nature of the partnership sees Cybersource offering its robust and dynamic digital payment solution suite to PayFast. It includes E-commerce checkout, digital merchant platform, Fraud Management, and SoftPOS. This initiative paves the path for PayFast to offer a dynamic and secure payment gateway with user friendly UI/UX, thereby helping businesses to offer the acceptance of online payments through debit and credit cards.
The partnership serves as a milestone that advances PayFast’s commitment to bring the company, and Pakistan, to the forefront of the regional fintech landscape. The State Bank licensed and regulated PSO/PSP envisions to extend its reach across international borders, starting with the MENA region.
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Further, the integration helps expand PayFast’s SoftPos initiative, which will greatly enhance digital payment acceptance for merchants of all scales by introducing fast, secure, and cost-effective solutions for them to collect online payments.
Currently, POS penetration in Pakistan is staggeringly low, with just over 90,000 POS terminals deployed nationwide compared to the millions of merchants in the market. One of the major reasons is the high setup costs that prevent acquirers to serve medium or small sized businesses. As the trend of contactless payments has grown worldwide by over 40% in the past two years, merchants will benefit from a simple, secure, and affordable digital solution to drive sales and maximise their revenue potential. By integrating Cybersource, PayFast can offer the ease, affordability, and speed of integration with SoftPos to its merchants.
Arshad Raza, Chairman PayFast by APPS, commended the company’s efforts: “PayFast aspires to make online payment acceptance hassle-free in Pakistan. By onboarding Visa directly through Cybersource, E-commerce & business partners of PayFast will gain access to the world’s most advanced industry standards, steering us closer towards this aim. We mark this as a pivotal chapter in our company’s history — especially as we venture to extend our services internationally.”
Adnan Ali, CEO PayFast by APPS, added: “Visa has transformed payment acceptance for businesses worldwide. PayFast’s most recent partnership with them, through Cybersource, is a testament to our innovative strategies and continued promise to bolster Pakistan’s image on an international level. It also reaffirms our vision to make safe, fast and secure digital payment solutions in Pakistan the norm. We are excited to deliver an optimal experience to our clients through this new step and I am proud of the team for securing this feat of making PayFast by APPS the first ever Pakistani fintech to partner directly with Visa.”
Leila Serhan, Visa’s Group Country Manager for North Africa, Levant and Pakistan, commented: “As Pakistani consumers increasingly shift online, fraudsters have looked for more ways to exploit them. It is important that merchants are equipped to combat fraud and ensure that consumers feel safe using digital payments over cash-on-delivery. At Visa, we believe cybersecurity is a collective effort, and this partnership with PayFast is a testament to our efforts to help local merchants with their digital transformation.”
Kamil Khan, Visa’s Country Manager for Pakistan, added: “We are excited to partner with PayFast by APPS, the first Pakistani fintech company to launch our dynamic Cybersource solution, which offers multiple benefits to merchants and provides customers with a frictionless, secure, and convenient payment solution. We believe this initiative will pave the way for Pakistan’s cashless future.”
Present at the signing ceremony from Visa were: Ms Leila Serhan, Group Country Manager for North Africa, Levant and Pakistan; Mr Kamil Khan, Country Manager for Pakistan; Mr Amaar Shaikh, Merchant Sales & Acquiring (Levant and Pakistan); Ms Bisma Rizwan, Merchant Sales & Acceptance; Qandeel Fatima, Business Development Manager. Meanwhile, PayFast by APPs was represented by Chairman Mr Arshad Raza; CEO Mr Adnan Ali; Chief Information Officer Mr Faisal Alam; Marketing Team Lead Mr Soheb Roomi; Chief Compliance & Risk Officer Mr Fahad Khan; Head of Digital Payments & Services Mr Yousuf Aziz; Head of Sales Daniyal Ahmed; Head of Strategic Partnerships Jawad Hassan.
