SBP Pushes PayPak with New Co-Badged Card

KARACHI: SBP is going all-in on digital payments because PayPak — holding 25%+ of 53M debit cards — is stuck at a pathetic 6% usage, Governor Jameel Ahmad revealed Tuesday. He blamed zero global/e-commerce acceptance, weak marketing, and the cheap-card stigma. Speaking at Faysal Bank’s PayPak-Mastercard co-badged launch, Ahmad said co-badging is the weapon to kill the gap — one card, multiple networks, domestic transactions stay local. SBP vows level playing field for PayPak and global giants while pushing interoperability and innovation. After last month’s PayPak-UnionPay card, more banks are jumping on the co-badge train.