Business Desk 
Apr 21, 2025
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has made another significant stride in promoting the country's digital finance ecosystem. The central bank approved a commercial license for SafePay to be a Payment System Operator/Payment Service Provider (PSO/PSP) for e-commerce payment gateway services.
It also approved YAP Pakistan to launch pilot operations for its e-money wallet service.
SBP clears SafePay and YAP Pakistan for digital services
This step is in line with SBP's initiative to drive fintech and digital payment products in Pakistan. SafePay is the sixth PSO/PSP operator to come online with commercial services in Pakistan. Such a license has not been issued in the last five years.
SafePay is referred to as the first Pakistani fintech to graduate from Y-Combinator, a renowned startup accelerator in the US. SafePay also possesses a sole partnership with Visa's Cybersource, which is a world-leading digital payment platform. SafePay had attained its first license from SBP in 2022.
The central bank explained that besides SafePay, one other PSO/PSP operator is operating in the pilot phase, while three others have been given in-principle approval. Licenses of three operators, on the other hand, have been canceled because of noncompliance.
YAP Pakistan, a subsidiary of YAP Global, got in-principle approval in 2022 and will now commence its pilot phase. YAP is a fintech company based in Dubai that specialises in digital banking and wallet solutions. It has collaborated with Bank Alfalah to provide services to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan.
The new YAP wallet app will introduce new features for both businesses and consumers. Similar to Hubpay, which also received pilot approval in October 2024, YAP Pakistan will look to enhance e-money wallet services in the domestic market.
