When two veterans join hands, the product assures quality. Such is the case with SimSim, Pakistan’s Free Mobile Wallet App. The product is the result of collaboration between Finja Pvt Ltd and FINCA Micro finance Bank. The former is a banking startup concerned with payment space in Pakistan, while the latter is a multinational microfinance bank, with its wings in 21 countries.
SimSim is a mobile based application that allows transactions and thus can be termed as a move away from the paper currency in Pakistan. The Wallet relies upon NADRA’s integration and machine learning. The mobile numbers act as Account numbers. Activating in a scarcely developed region, astonishingly, the Wallet would be connected to Banks as well as the ATMs. The transactions are free for now, while the future remains uncertain.
SimSim has received regulatory approval from the State Bank of Pakistan on Friday, 12th May, 2017, under the Branch-less Banking Regulation framework formulated by SBP. Prior to this however he had to go through the ‘Beta Pilot Period’, where I recorded transaction of over 600 million.
It’s thus all good to go. You too can be a part! Just download the application from App Store or Play Store and set up your own wallet, don’t forget to add money though!
The Founders gave high hopes for their innovative plan. CEO of FINCA Microfinance was quoted saying,
“SimSim’s pioneering instant mobile account will go a long way in boosting financial inclusion in the country and digitizing the economy”.
FINJA Pvt. Ltd CEO, Qasif Shahid, and tech veteran, Monis Rahman, too attested to the ease the innovation would bring.
But despite whatever they say, the reality lies in the streets of Lahore, on the beaches of Karachi, on the bare lands of KPK and Balochistan. Can such an innovation survive in a region where half of the population is uneducated? Can it survive in a country where people are alien to banks? Can it survive with all odds against it? I don’t think so! Let time prove me wrong.