According to a press release that was published on Sunday, Bank Alfalah Limited and Punjab Beverages Company have tied themselves in knots of agreement. The agreement features to initiate a pilot to digitize the last mile retailer in the PBC supply chain.
According to the press release,
“The main objective of the project is to digitize incentive payouts and expense reimbursements made by PBC to its distributors and retailers.”
Now the payouts are carried directly to retailers or by the distributors. The agreement intends to change this custom. After the agreement, a PBC will launch its debit card that will be sponsored by Bank Alfalah.
Supply Chain Digitization will lead to expansion of financial outreach and make it convenient to interact with retailers. Press release stated, “This will make the payouts real-time as opposed to days that it currently takes to reach the distributors and retailers.”
A great event that was attended by many officials was held in Islamabad by PBC, after the agreement was signed between the two groups. The lunch event was attended by 200 retailers and 2 distributors. Everyone present at the event appreciated the initiative and the efforts.
Mr. Amaar Naveed Ikhlas, Head of Branch-less Banking at Bank Alfalah took the opportunity and shared his views about the agreement. He stated,
“Bank Alfalah is committed to achieving the long-term goal of financial inclusion in Pakistan and also bridge the service divide between various social and economic groups within the country. We are excited to have PBC as our partner to initiate this pilot and test our product to gain insights into retailer behavior on the digitized payments platform. The insights gained from this pilot will help both BAL and PBC to scale up, nurture and grow the digitized payment ecosystem.”
As said by Mr. Omar Farooq Khan, CEO at Punjab Beverages,
“Punjab Beverages is committed to digitizing our retail supply chain payments which will not only make the payouts real-time, but also increase retailer confidence and loyalty towards PBC. We are confident that our partnership with BAL will bring access to finance for small business owners through a suite of financial products and services with a focus on PBC supply chain payments.”
BAL has always worked for the betterment of the country by promoting digital technology. The bank believes that digital technology is a mode to induce efficacy to country’s banking a finance sector.
Bank of Alfalah:
The fifth largest bank of Pakistan has made growth rapidly since the advent of the bank. Bank Alfalah is one of the largest Islamic Banking businesses in the country.
The Bank has its offices in more than 200 cities. These places include Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Bahrain. It has 650 branches spread in the world. It also has a represent office in UAE. The Bank serves more than 1 million corporate, retail, small business, agricultural, Islamic and asset financing customers.