Leading Pakistani banks evolving for a new digital age.

Byline: Ahsan Nisar

National Bank of Pakistan

With long term vision and focus on digital banking, a new Group was recently formed within the Bank by the name of Payment Services and Digital Banking Group "PSDBG" to ensure that NBP is not only at par with its peer banks but is also capable of leading the industry on the road to digitalization. PSDBG has not only initiated multiple technology deployments but also captured businesses, which also places NBP in a competitive position in this arena, especially in G2P and P2G business. Key initiatives include:

* Designing and strategizing the long-term Digital Strategy of the Bank.

* Negotiated and signed multiple incentive and technology support funding agreements.

* Technology Deployments, to launch multiple products (pre-paid cards, mobile app, G2P and P2G aggregator, Cash and API management solutions)

In recent times, the Group has successfully delivered many G2P programs of the Government of Pakistan, including Punjab Flood Relief Program, PM Kisan Package, etc. Group's Home Remittance Division is actively involved in various marketing campaigns with some major tie-ups in KSA, UAE and other healthy corridors which attracted excellent feedback from print/electronic media, participating agencies as well as from the customers.

Habib Bank Limited

The consumer business of the bank has been on a double-digit growth trajectory for the past few years, and now hosts one of the largest portfolios of the industry with one of the lowest loss rates. The bank plans to further penetrate this segment. To supplement this growth and to better manage its existing portfolio, the bank during the year invested in sophisticated systems and statistical tools such as behavioral scorecards. The project concluded in December 2017 and led to an upgradation of its existing application scorecards to third-generation scorecards and development and deployment of behavioral scorecards. Further, a "Decision-Smart"system, a decision support software has also been added, which gives the bank capabilities to better serve its customers and improve marketing of its products, while maintaining high standards of risk management. In line with digital transformation agenda, real time offering of personal loans via ATM has successfully been implemented.

United Bank Limited

UBL continues to invest in technology and innovation to re-define the customer experience and enhance security around financial transactions and customer data. In...