Fintech YAP has been granted an in-principle approval (IPA) from the State Bank of Pakistan for an Electronic Money Institute (EMI) Licence.
After initially launching its digital banking platform in the UAE, YAP has identified Pakistan’s rapidly growing fintech landscape as the ideal market to expand its operations.
YAP Pakistan, a subsidiary of YAP, has a vision to become the leading digital banking platform in the country and to make banking ‘an effortless experience’ for every Pakistani citizen.
“We are dedicated towards expanding into the underserved Pakistani fintech arena to increase financial inclusion,” said Meharyab Niazi, CEO of YAP Pakistan. “To achieve this goal, we will be rolling out several products that are fine-tuned and curated for our Pakistani audience. We would like to thank the authorities for their trust and support in making this IPA possible.”
Anas Zaidan, founder and MD of YAP, adds: “We aim to provide agile and effortless remittance products to our users along with an exciting portfolio of products that cater to all segments of the Pakistani audience. With YAP launching nationwide we hope to accelerate financial innovation and accessibility.”
Future plans
The YAP Pakistan app offers a suite of features, such as analytics and budget tools, card controls, easy money transfers, real-time notifications of purchases, virtual cards and more. The app has been fully customised to support its local audience including an Urdu version of the app which is currently in development.
YAP Pakistan also aims to address the challenges consumers face in the foreign remittance market. Pakistan is ranked sixth in the top 10 recipient countries of workers remittances globally, and from July 2021 until February 2022, a total of $11.2billion were remitted from the GCC to Pakistan.
The company is also keen to introduce products for agri, households, and women, along with YAP Young, a feature for children.