The devastating floods that hit Pakistan in August affected more than 12 million people. The magnitude of the disaster required the relief funds, promised by the Government of Pakistan, to reach the people in need within shortest possible time. UBL is given the responsibility because of its successful project in 2009 when it issued cards for relief funds disbursement to over 400,000 IDPs.
United Bank Limited is amongst the most technologically advanced banks in Pakistan and is the biggest issuer of debit cards in the country. TPS, the technology partner of UBL for over 10 years now, has supported the bank in its growth in its alternate distribution expansion. TPS IRIS Switch lies at the heart of UBL’s e-Banking infrastructure driving its alternate distributions channels including its debit and prepaid cards.
Out of the total of approximately 8 million debit cards base in Pakistan, UBL was the most well positioned bank to issue over 1.5 million cards which accounts to 25% of the debit cards issued in the country. UBL was given this responsibility because of its robust infrastructure, reliable and scalable cards platform, its capacity and potential to handle this project in a timely manner. The bank started issuing the cards in matter of few days because of IRIS Product Wizard module that allows defining a new card product through simple configuration.
The bank outsourced the cards personalization and PIN issuance to local service providers to manage the huge load. TPS ensured a secure and reliable cards and PIN generation process through IRIS (sitting at the bank end) and Nexus, a Cards and PIN production system (hosted at outsourced partner premises).
This mode of G2P payments, enabled through cards, promises transparency and efficiency in the relief funds distribution – the two biggest challenges in such payments. The FAP can take the cash out through UBL Agent with a PoS terminal or from any ATMs in the country.
So far, 1,000,000 cards have already been issued and distributed and the remaining will be issued shortly. More than 20 billion PKR rupees have been distributed among the flood victims through these debit cards.
TPS is proud to respond to the critical situation in Pakistan to facilitate the rehabilitation process of the FAPs in Pakistan through this technology based initiative. TPS stood by UBL in its efforts to distribute aids in a fast, secure and transparent manner.
“UBL’s positive experience in the fund distribution to the FAPs through Visa debit cards last year gained the government and people’s confidence in our competence to handle such projects. Once again this year, UBL has been given the responsibility to issue approximately 1.5 million Watan cards. With TPS as our technology partner, UBL confidently took up the project to issue such a huge volume of cards in a matter of days. IRIS, lying at the heart of UBLs e-Banking infrastructure, stood its test of time and proved its robustness with a high degree of scalability and flexibility.” – Mr. Abrar Mir, Head Branchless and e-Banking, United Bank Limited
