KARACHI: Pakistan is poised to have its first locally developed credit card under the first and only domestic payment scheme, PayPak, marking a significant milestone in the country’s financial and digital payments landscape, CEO of 1LINK Najeeb Agrawalla said.
1LINK, in collaboration with member banks and the banking regulator, is working to launch the PayPak credit card later this year, Agrawalla said in an interview with The News.
He said this initiative is a potential gamechanger for Pakistan’s banking sector, aimed at expanding financial inclusion, enhancing credit accessibility, and strengthening the country’s domestic payments ecosystem.
He added that the PayPak credit card will be accepted nationwide, providing consumers with a locally managed alternative to international payment card networks.
One of the most compelling aspects of the credit card proposition is its accessibility for banks that have historically been unable to enter the credit card market due to the exorbitant operational expenditure associated with building and managing an independent card programme.
The locally developed credit card is offered on a pay-as-you-earn model, significantly lowering the financial barrier to entry and enabling smaller and mid-tier banks to participate in the credit card space. Additionally, participating banks have access to end-to-end card management services, removing the need for heavy upfront infrastructure investment. Coupled with a significantly faster time-to-market, this model will help democratise credit card issuance across Pakistan’s banking sector, bringing more institutions and ultimately more consumers into the formal credit ecosystem.
Highlighting the country’s progress in digital payments, Agrawalla said that Pakistan became the 28th country in the world back in 2016 to operate its own domestic payment scheme, PayPak, followed by many other countries that took inspiration from us and introduced their own domestic payment schemes. Through PayPak, customers have already been benefiting from secure, reliable and cost-effective services.
He further said that currently, the PayPak debit card has witnessed growing adoption across various payment segments, including government-to-person (G2P) disbursements, person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions, e-commerce platforms, and retail outlets. The launch of a credit card product is expected to further strengthen the scheme’s market presence and support the country’s transition towards a cashless economy.
Since its launch, PayPak has evolved from a single card product into a diverse portfolio of variants, each designed to meet the distinct needs of Pakistani consumers — from family-focused protection plans to weekly e-commerce discount campaigns and cards that seamlessly function both domestically and internationally through co-badged arrangements. Today, PayPak commands a 28 percent market share with over 16.1 million cards in force, reflecting a decade of steady growth and deepening consumer trust.
The PayPak credit card represents the next phase of this journey, extending the benefits of Pakistan’s domestic payment infrastructure into the credit space and creating greater opportunities for consumers to access formal financial services through a locally managed platform.
More than a payment instrument, PayPak has come to represent a broader conviction: that Pakistan’s financial future is best built on its own infrastructure.
Industry experts believe that the introduction of a domestic credit card scheme could increase competition in the payments market, lower transaction costs for banks and merchants, and support the government’s broader agenda of promoting digital financial services and reducing dependence on cash.
