MasterCard collaborates with NADRA to optimise national ID cards with e-payment functionality

KARACHI: MasterCard, a leading technology company in the global payments industry, has announced a strategic collaboration with Pakistan’s NADRA Technologies to optimize national ID cards with electronic payments functionality.
The move will allow Pakistani citizens to carry out financial transactions and receive government disbursements by utilizing the unique 13-digit identification number of their identity card.
Citizens will also be able to use their national ID to send and receive domestic and international remittances, eliminating the requirement to physically visit a bank branch or currency exchange house to meet their money transfer needs.
Under the terms of the agreement, MasterCard will also use its next-generation payment processing technologies to process all online payments made by Pakistani citizens for the issuance of national ID cards, passports or any other document provisioned by NADRA Technologies.
The announcement was made during MasterCard’s participation in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2017, taking place from January 17-20 in Davos, Switzerland.
Aurangzaib Khan, Country Manager Pakistan and Afghanistan, MasterCard, said, “Our collaboration with NADRA Technologies is a testament to our commitment towards building a reliable and secure ecosystem for online payments in Pakistan.”
“The new service will make international remittances more convenient both for the sender and beneficiary and this is significant since Pakistan is one of the top receivers of remittances from abroad,” said Khan.
“Combining the national ID card with payment features will transform it into a powerful, multi-purpose channel for citizens to carry out financial transactions and will facilitate faster and more efficient delivery of vital government services.”