A bank in Pakistan has adopted Ant Financial’s blockchain-based solution to provide cross-border remittance services with Malaysia.
Under a partnership between Pakistan’s Telenor Microfinance Bank (TMB) and Malaysia’s Valyou, customers will be able to conduct real-time money transfers between the two country’s via TMB’s Easypaisa mobile banking platform.
TMB and Valyou, both of which are owned by Norwegian telecom company Telenor Group, said that the move will reduce end expenses for users by removing intermediary costs, as well as improve safety and efficiency by enabling customers to track each step of the remittance process.
Around USD$1 billion is sent to Pakistan from Malaysia each year.
Ant Financial’s Alipay provided the technology for the project, which is reportedly South Asia’s first blockchain-based cross-border remittance service.
According to a report from Mobile Zhifu Wang (移动支付网), on 8 January the head of Pakistan’s central bank announced that the blockchain cross-border remittance service had come on line.
“The new blockchain remittance service is a bold experiment that uses new technology to change Pakistan’s financial services sector and bring breakthroughs,” said Tariq Bajwa, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan at a ceremony for the launch of the project in Islamabad.
“We are extremely thankful for this major development, and thank Alipay for making a major contribution to our digital and financial inclusion goals.”
“The new remittance service is one of the examples of how emerging technologies can help countries meet their digital and financial inclusion,” said Eric Jing, Ant Financial CEO.
“We’re thrilled to be part of Pakistan’s financial inclusion efforts and we’re dedicated to exploring breakthroughs and applying them to benefit more people in more places.”
