One of Pakistan’s major banks is now offering mobile financial services. Allied Bank Ltd, in conjunction with professional services firm Abacus Consulting, is deploying Sybase 365’s Mobile Commerce solution.
This deployment will enable Allied Bank to integrate mobile banking capabilities into its current banking products, enabling it to tap into a large base of potential customers – approximately 130 million mobile users in Pakistan – particularly in remote rural areas where access to banks, ATMs and the Internet remains limited.
Zia Ijaz, Group Chief of Commercial and Retail Banking Group at Allied Bank, said that the bank’s aim was to “develop and implement a robust mobile banking strategy to tap into the unbanked and under-banked population of Pakistan.”
“Pakistan is the fifth largest mobile phone market in Asia, and one of the fastest developing markets for branchless banking in the world. The proliferation of mobile banking continues to help empower these vast communities, improving the daily lives of many and fuelling the local economy,” said Matthew Talbot, senior vice president of mCommerce, Sybase 365. “Mobile is undoubtedly emerging as the most important banking channel for customers.”
In addition to Allied Bank, Sybase 365 will also be launching mobile banking services for Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in Pakistan, and ONE Bank Limited (OBL) in Bangladesh.
