Page 41 - CMA Journal (July-August 2025)

Focus Section

b) Market Competition: Easypaisa and JazzCash have uniform but align with the requirements of varied
used assertive recruiting techniques, including client demographics (SBP, 2023).
complimentary transfers and rebate discounts on bill b) Risk Scoring for First-Time Borrowers: A major
payments. These strategies have broadened the user obstacle in Pakistan's lending sector is the absence
base in both metropolitan and semi-urban as well as of documented credit records. Mobile wallet
rural areas, facilitated by extensive agent networks. transactions, such as bill payments and digital
remittances, can operate as an indicator of
c) E-commerce Synergy: The development of online creditworthiness. Easypaisa's exclusive micro-loan
marketplaces like Daraz, Foodpanda, and several algorithm assesses repayment history of prior loans,
ticketing portals has established digital wallets as timeliness in bill payments, and consistency in
the favoured means for online transactions. mobile airtime purchases. It facilitates immediate
Merchants gain from expedited settlement periods, loan determinations, sometimes within minutes,
but clients get convenience and frequently reduced enabling people and micro-entrepreneurs who were
rates for cashless transactions. The result is a historically excluded from official lending avenues.
payment infrastructure that is ever more accessible, c) Predictive Analytics for Targeted Offerings:
economical, and dependable. Rural clients may now Fintechs can utilise machine learning algorithms to
receive remittances instantaneously using forecast which clients are most inclined to accept
Raast-linked wallets, whilst urban consumers can specific products, such as savings plans, health
insurance, or working capital loans. Marketing
transact for services without reliance on currency.
campaigns are more efficient when using predictive
Pakistan's digital payment ecosystem, formerly
models on client groupings. JazzCash has cross-sold
fragmented and reliant on cash, is now progressing
micro-insurance to ride-hailing drivers by evaluating
towards a fully integrated, inclusive, and
transaction histories that show frequent mobility
technology-driven financial landscape. and fuel use.
Table 1: Financial Inclusion Metrics – Pakistan (2022 vs 2023–24)
Financial Inclusion Impact Analysis
Metric 2022 2023–24 Growth (%) The integration of digital payments and data-informed
Digital Payment Transactions (billion) 4.3 6.4 48.80% decision-making has significantly influenced the
socio-economic landscape in Pakistan, especially in the
Transaction Value (USD billions) 90 125 38.90%
past two years.
Mobile Wallet Accounts (million) 65 82 26.20%
a) Women's Inclusion and Credit Access: From 18% to
Raast Transaction Volume (million) 250 1,000 300%
23%, female account ownership has increased,
Rural Account Ownership (% of adults) 21% 28% 33.30%
advancing financial inclusion. JazzCash's Women on
Female Account Ownership (% of adults) 18% 23% 27.80%
Wheels program, which provides mobile payments and
Micro-Loan Disbursement via Mobile microloans to female ride-hailing enterprises, is crucial.
Wallets (million loans) 2.5 4 60%
Easypaisa's women-only savings and credit have been
popular in urban and peri-urban areas. Mobile
Data Analytics as a Driver of Financial Inclusion wallet-based microloan distribution rose 60% from
In Pakistan's swiftly advancing FinTech landscape, data 2022 to 2023–24 (SBP, 2024). This extension shows that
analytics has become a pivotal facilitator of financial transaction analytics-based credit scoring may approve
inclusion. Conventional banking systems frequently loans for those without a banking background.
depended on collateralised lending and extensive credit Easypaisa's "micro-loan" program provides initial loan
history evaluations, therefore excluding a significant amounts of PKR 500 or less for first-time customers,
portion of the populace. In contrast, FinTech businesses frequently resulting in incremental credit limit
utilise transaction-level data to develop alternative credit increases with timely repayments.
profiles, hence facilitating wider access to financial b) Savings, Asset Growth, and Targeted
services. Development Programs: According to data from
a) Customer Profiling and Segmentation: FinTech the Pakistan Microfinance Network (2024), average
platforms utilise transaction statistics such as savings balances in mobile wallets surged by 18%
frequency, average transaction size, expenditure year-over-year. Savings products associated with
categories, and geolocation trends, to categorise wallet applications are frequently gamified or
consumers into actionable segments. A reward-oriented, therefore encouraging regular
high-frequency, low-value consumer at food stores contributions, especially among low-income
may be classified as a low-income household with individuals. In addition to commercial products, data
consistent spending patterns. In contrast, an analytics facilitates impact-oriented targeting. For
infrequent, high-value consumer in the travel sector instance, the SBP's Digital Youth Entrepreneurship
can be identified as an urban paid professional. This Program utilises Raast-linked wallets for the
segmentation facilitates customised product distribution of seed funding, accompanied by
creation, guaranteeing that financial offers are not transaction monitoring to guarantee the funds for
business-related expenditures.
ICMA’s Chartered Management Accountant, Jul-Aug 2025 39