Nigeria’s digital banking startup, Kuda, has received a digital banking licence from the State Bank of Pakistan to offer its its digital banking services in the country.
The company with its partners registered as KT Bank are among the five companies to receive the digital banking licence in the country.
Kuda’s Chief Expansion Officer, Mr. Ryan Laubscher commented,“The company’s partnership with Fatima Group and The City School Group leverages each partner’s unique reach and capabilities to create a powerful proposition with enormous potential to increase financial access and affordability in Pakistan, and most notably, with a focus on the agriculture and education sectors.”
As part of the deal,Kuda will be expected to provide affordable banking that will scale its partners’ inclusion-focused initiatives in Pakistan.
Last year,the Pakistan’s central bank launched new licensing and regulatory framework for digital banks. The aim was to spur financial inclusion and pilot with only five licences. Kuda and four other banks beat 15 other applicants to get the licence, including all the Pakistani commercial banks that applied.
As reported by Techcabal, The application process was based on various parameters including fitness and propriety, experience and financial strength; business plan; implementation plan; funding and capital plan; IT and cybersecurity strategy, and outsourcing arrangements.
The selected five are required to incorporate a public limited company with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, after which they will get an approval-in-principle to pilot their solutions.
Kuda was founded in 2019 by Babs Ogundeyi and Musty Mustapha.The fintech provides easy and free to low-cost transactions, instant lending, debit card services, and international remittances from the UK.
