Case Study

After Watan: The Contributions of a G2P Payments Program to Building a Branchless Banking Industry

How to expand branchless banking through G2P payments in Pakistan following a natural disaster
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This case study highlights the experience of United Bank Limited (UBL) Omni in leveraging G2P initiatives to improve national branchless banking networks. It also elaborates how this can help in building the mobile money business case for service providers and make real contributions to increased financial inclusion.The case focuses on the implementation of a cashless social transfer program by the Government of Pakistan in response to the devastating flood of August 2010, via a debit card branchless banking solution called the “Watan Card” by UBL. It disbursed over 1.4 million debit cards and 58 billion rupees through the Watan Card. The study finds several contributions by this G2P program to the growth of the sector include:

  • Approximately 80% of Watan customers accessed their funds through an ATM, and the remaining 20% accessed the funds through POS devices made available at the camp locations;
  • UBL Omni has also been able to use the Watan program as an opportunity to further extend its agent network;
  • Card and PIN technology is relatively easy to use and adds tremendous value in terms of transaction authentication and security;
  • Exposes banks to a new market segment and allows them to test different models for reaching low-balance customers.

About this Publication

By Pasricha, N. & Rezvi, K.
Published