SBP grants IPA to Careem Pay for EMI

Careem Pay has received an In-Principle-Approval (IPA) for an Electronic Money Institution license from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) (EMI).

Careem Pay, the company’s fintech subsidiary, has started in Pakistan as a separate corporation with intentions to invest $50 million in the country’s fintech ecosystem. It will be led by General Manager Noman Khurshid.Subject to SBP final clearance, Careem Pay will be able to provide convenient and accessible financial services to 9+ million Customers, 800,000 Captains, and 3000+ merchants both on and off the Careem App.

Careem Pay will offer services such as bill payments, government and education fees, peer-to-peer (P2P) transfer, and wallet cash-outs once it receives operational readiness from SBP. Careem Pay plans to offer cards, inward foreign remittance services, and services that allow customers and merchants to make and receive online and offline payments in following phases, subject to SBP clearance.

This is in addition to Careem Pay’s existing capabilities, which include payment across all Careem services, such as ride-hailing and food delivery, as well as P2P credit transfers and mobile top-ups within the app.

“Careem Pay aspires to simplify and improve lives by making everyday payments easier and more accessible for our Customers, Captains, and merchants,” said Mudassir Sheikha, CEO and Co-founder of Careem.

We are grateful to the SBP for awarding us an IPA for the EMI license, which provides us with a tremendous chance to empower individuals through innovative payment experiences. With over 30% of the population and 18% of women banked in Pakistan, we see this as a huge potential to move away from cash payments and toward digital transactions. “Careem Pay!” chalo!

“Careem is well positioned to leverage into the digital financial opportunities in Pakistan,” said Noman Kurshid, GM Pakistan, Careem Pay.

We understand the problem issues and are well positioned to develop solutions to address them because we have a large Customer, Captain, and merchant base across the country that conducts high frequency transactions on our platform. We are thrilled to contribute to Pakistan’s financial ecosystem’s digitization and financial inclusion.”