ZONG & Askari Bank partner for ‘Timepey’ Branchless Banking

Karachi, December 01, 2012: ZONG, the country’s fastest growing cellular network and Askari Bank Limited today announced the launch of ‘Timepey’, a technology-based branchless banking service that will make available a range of banking services to just about everyone, with remarkable convenience and efficiency. Aimed particularly at the over 90% Pakistanis who do not have bank accounts, Timepey is set to give a new meaning altogether to financial inclusion.

Timepey users will be able to pay utility bills, transfer money to specified recipients anywhere in the country, deposit and withdraw cash and carry out account transfers. User convenience has been kept as the foremost consideration in developing this new service. Users do not have to be ZONG customers or even be mobile phone subscribers. As such the service offers complete flexibility to anyone who wishes to avail essential financial services without the need to open a bank account.  

Speaking at the launch event, the CEO of ZONG, Fan Yunjun said, “The launch of the Timepey branchless banking service is truly a major development that will benefit millions of people. This use of modern technology to provide efficient, secure and convenient financial services to the public also has a strong corporate social responsibility angle, as the service will result in several socio-economic benefits, particularly for the low and middle income segments, as for rural and peri-urban segments of society, who are generally not reached by traditional banking. This service is effectively a paradigm shift with far-reaching impact.”

M. R. Mehkari, President & Chairman Askari Bank Limited said “We are proud to have partnered with ZONG, the first international venture of China Mobile, for Time Pey branchless banking program. By partnering with China Mobile Pakistan, Askari Bank has built a more scalable retail network of points at which people can conveniently pay into or cash out from their branchless banking accounts. It has been a true pleasure to work with ZONG, just as the Chinese people are great friends of Pakistani people, we have also found China Mobile Pakistan to be a dependable business partner of Askari Bank.”

Usman Ishaq, Executive Director Commercial, ZONG said “There has been a significant rise of branchless banking in Pakistan as well but it is still not enough to meet the demand. ZONG’s aim is to bridge this gap and bring banking services to our customer’s finger tips. Our esteemed customers will be able to utilize various services right after the launch including cash in, cash out, person to person, fund transfers, utility bill payments, mobile top-up and mobile accounts. The portfolio of services later will be enhanced by introducing services like home remittance, salary disbursement, food chain transaction, school fees/ fee payments, transport and fuel payments and SMEs and MFIs transactions.”

Core features of the Timepey service like convenience, simplicity and security combine with the functionality of instant and real-time transactions to create an unmatchable public facility. With currently over 3,000 Timepay agents countrywide, Timepey users will have no difficulty in availing the service at a time and place most convenient for them.    

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Officially established on April 20th, 2000, China Mobile Communications Corporation (“China Mobile” for short) has a registered capital of 51.8 billion RMB Yuan and assets of over 400 billion RMB Yuan. China Mobile Limited has set wholly-owned subsidiaries in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government) in China and went public in Hong Kong and New York Stock Exchanges. Currently, in terms of its market value, subscriber based and network coverage China Mobile Limited is the largest among all the overseas listed companies.

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