Amer Pasha is Country Manager of Visa Inc. He is responsible for continuing to build Visa’s business in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He joined Visa in 2006. He has worked with Coca-Cola for six years, leaving the company as Country Manager for Pakistan & Afghanistan, contributing to growing market share and helped establishing a bottling plant in Afghanistan.
Prior to that, he held the position of Marketing Manager with Reckitt Benckiser responsible for household consumer brands.
Amer’s interest in the field of sundry marketing of financial services takes lead from his first job at American Express where, during his eight years tenure, he held various positions in Sales & Marketing of Travelers’ Cheques, Cards & Travel Services.
Amer holds an MBA from the Webster University in the US.
He is also the Honorary Secretary of the Marketing Association of Pakistan and on the board of the Parkinson’s Society of Pakistan.
What is business and functions of Visa Inc?
Visa Inc. is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories, enabling them to use digital currency instead of cash and checks.
Visa offers a diverse range of branded payment products, which our financial institution clients use to offer credit, debit, prepaid and cash-access programs to their customers (individuals, businesses and government entities).
We own and manage the Visa brand, which provides the assurance of acceptance at millions of merchant outlets and 1.7 million ATMs in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide .
We continually look at how we can use our network breadth and payment expertise to extend the value of electronic payments so that more people can use Visa in more ways and more places around the world. For example, with the Visa mobile platform, we are helping accelerate the convergence of mobile technology and electronic payments.
Visa does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Cardholder relationships belong to our network of financial institution clients and are managed by them.
How is Visa strengthening banking system in the country?
Visa has made the banking services reliable to customers who are getting easy and smooth transaction of their money in different parts of the country. Visa has lion share in the banking sector which provides a rapid and comfortable service to thousands of customers through its various products of plastic money in Pakistan and all across the world.
The scope of payment systems infrastructure in the country increased as the total number of ATMs reached to 4,562 in the country.
SBP report said the contribution of paper based payments in total retail payment transactions was 61.20 percent in term of volume and 88.45 percent in term of value.
It also pointed out that the volume and value of e-banking transactions reached 52.58 million and Rs 4.7 trillion respectively. Its contribution to total retail payment transactions was 38.80 percent in term of volume and 11.55 percent in term of value, the Report added.
The safe, efficient and reliable payment systems are vital part and backbone of financial infrastructure of a country which provide the essential base for financial stability. The primary goal of a payment system is to enable fast and risk-free circulation of money in the economy, an essential prerequisite for satisfying timely payment obligations and improve liquidity in the financial markets.
What is the high transaction season of money in world and in Pakistan?
The high transaction season of money is Christmas in all over the world and in Pakistan Eid-ul-Fiter and Eid-ul-Azha are two major events, when banks witness fast and volumetric transaction of currency not only through ATMs but through debit and credit cards as hundred thousands of shops and business carry out their trading by trustworthy plastic money.
There are thousands of bank branches and shopkeepers of more than 25 thousands endorse Visa guaranteed cards. We provide fast settlement of money and its transaction solutions among all stakeholders including shops of products and services, banks and customers.
The internet banking is also witnessing strong growth in Pakistan as lot of people is availing an easy service for payments of utilities, shopping, salary and business transactions.
How do you see the growth of plastic money users in the country?
Visa witnessed an outstanding growth in Pakistan with increasing number of people using electronic payment system in the country. It is playing a pivotal role to develop the banking system and its beneficiaries, customers. Besides, the system helped the country to regulate a mechanized electronic payment solution with documentation of economy through records of currency.
The electronic payment system has eased the life of people particularly businessmen with security of their cash transfer inside and outside of country. Almost 90 percent of Visa guaranteed card holders of different banks are use their cards in Pakistan while rest of 10 percent usually use cards for transfer of money outside of country majority in Middle East countries.
Pasha mentioned that Visa has been connected with 24 banks of the country with strong partnership and reliable payment solution to their customers against different services. It has more than 7.4 million ATM/Credit card holders and millions of internet banking users along with thousands of clients in retail business in services and manufacturing sectors.
Why are credit cards witnessing discouraging trend in Pakistan?
Credit cards may be facing discouraging trend in Pakistan but it is not fault of a system neither it is being downgraded by banks but it is up to customer who fail to manage its credit limit and repayment schedules in accordance with income earning.
Therefore blaming the credit cards solutions are not true for bankruptcy of individual or bad-debts of banks. On the other hand, debit card remains facilitative because of its product diversity which relates to users account money. So it is comfortable and used without any tension by individuals.
Visa has initiated a financial literacy program to resolve the issue of credit cards and its affordability for card holders in order to promote the facilitation system in the banking system of Pakistan.
What is the financial literacy program of Visa?
Visa has initiated a financial literacy program to educate a vast number of customers who are weak in budgeting and managing their personal accounts, spending and earnings. This program has been designed after research of local markets and weakness of credit card holders to get benefited through system.
The program focus on individual spending behavior, his personal needs and earning sources, which educate them to maintain their credit card limits, savings and repayments schedule on time. Hence, the system will enable its learner to avail credit card opportunity keeping in mind their earning and saving capabilities on daily, monthly and yearly basis.
The series of discussion programs are organized at different level from media to customers’ side, which basically boost the confidence of plastic money services among them.
Visa provides extensive literature of its financial literacy program in different languages so that masses could understand it to become an active part of the modern financial transaction system.
This is a long-term program which ultimately introduce best practices in banking system and growth the number of credit card users in Pakistan.
Visa redoubled its efforts on financial literacy and now aims to reach 20 million additional people with financial literacy programs by May 1, 2013. We are well on our way to meeting this goal and have already reached 10 million people.
In these challenging economic times, ensuring that people worldwide have the skills they need to manage their money successfully has never been more important.
Visa is constantly innovating in this field to ensure that the information we create is relevant and delivered in a channel that will resonate with those that need it the most. From using Twitter, to developing new widgets for our Facebook pages, to our YouTube channel featuring videos developed by the Kahn Academy, to games for the iPad, Visa is constantly developing new ways to bring this important information to consumers.
What are the challenges of electronic payment network is Pakistan?
The law and order situation and electricity are two major issues in Pakistan which cripple electronic payment solution and create problems for customers seeking rapid cash or money transactions.
The ATM provides cash to its users comfortably but if machine does not work he suffers ultimately. It does not mean the system is poor but it may be fault of banks with poor management or service problem in the system such as link down in case of power outage.
But by and large, the system facilitates its users if you compare banking system if a banking system is compared 10 years ago.
What is Visa doing to help its financial institution clients?
Visa is committed to being the best partner possible to our financial institution clients.
We remain focused on having the right people and mechanisms in place to engage our clients, understand their business needs and create programs that help them build stronger and more profitable relationships with their customers.
Recently, we have stepped up our efforts to add value to our clients’ businesses in the following ways:
Enhancing data and analytic capabilities: We have enhanced our data and analytic capabilities in order to be able to provide our clients with critical, data-driven insights while exercising the utmost care regarding privacy and cardholder data. These insights allow clients to address the trends, challenges and opportunities that confront their businesses.
What value does Visa bring to merchants?
The value of Visa is defined by the improved point-of-sale experience we deliver to cardholders and merchants. We consider merchants to be important partners, and we believe that accepting and using Visa delivers demonstrable value to this important stakeholder group.
The value of accepting Visa includes fast and efficient check-out and guaranteed, timely payment; streamlined back-office processing, which can lower cash- and check-handling costs and immediate access to hundreds of millions of cardholders worldwide.
Support for new technology, such as contactless, that can make Visa faster than cash. This benefits merchants that put a premium on customer convenience and value being seen as innovative.
Does Visa make money on interchange fees?
Interchange is the rate paid by a retailer’s financial institution to a cardholder’s financial institution for the vast majority of transactions. For ATM transactions, interchange flows in the opposite direction – from the cardholder’s bank to the acquiring bank. It is part of the cost structure of the banks and an important revenue source. It is critical to small community banks and credit unions and allows them to offer products and services competitive with larger financial institutions.
If pressed on whether Visa makes money on interchange – In some cases, on certain inter-regional transactions, the interchange rate applied on the transaction in the acquirer’s country is different from the one applied in the issuer’s country. In those circumstances where there is a differential, Visa either retains or makes up for the difference, which could result in a gain or loss to Visa, respectively.
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