The golden age of photocopying and the curious case of APIs, Smart Cards and SuperApps. The most tragic thing I see daily is when a NADRA chip card gets photocopied. All the info we are allegedly photocopying exists on the card. Even for the basic variety card it can be read.
What we need to do is to build an ecosystem of verified tokenized info.Then we have the APIs that have come a long way, but have a long way to go. 1Link is a primary example of what can be,(and slowly getting there)but the real value unlock would be if the Banks Agreed to sell it
Next we have our obsession with SuperApps. The thesis was that if you captured enough DAUs and had a captive audience, you could build a semi walled garden of what ever it is they need to do in their digital life from playing games to paying people to checking the news and msging
We have the perfect recipe to combine all three and build our SuperApp, SuperPayment, SuperChat, super every thing in one go without the state feeling it had to give up any"critical national security info". If you wont let any one else do it, perhaps its time you do it your self
Payment rails wont happen over night, identification verification is neither getting cheaper or simpler, digital banking is eons away in all its glory, local chat and payment methods have crappy downloads. It boils down to trust and value. So heres a thought.
Since NADRA cites security etc and the cost of verification for startups arent coming down, same thing for 1LINK Integrations cost money. So why doesn't NADRA build an APP. Within the APP can live 1LINK and all the banks integrations + over time bring all startup services within.
Not an ideal world scenario, but if you wont let others build fast enough or inexpensively enough why not build your own garden and have your own basic security rules and interconnect rules. so heres a quick use case to visualize, I bank with Bank 1, You with Bank 2.
I need to pay you,all banks + 1link supposedly in this super app. I get authenticated, put in the other persons CNIC & with backend authentication I can pay to any one 1Link supports. New player comes to town instead of integrating with all channels, integrates in to these rails
Lets look beyond bank payments, you are a struggling chat app, you integrate here, people can use your services natively, but can now make payments from within to other users of your platform either stand alone or from within here.
An other one is all utility companies interconnect, they already have your CNIC on file(based on who makes the payment) or could get it. Every time payments are made, build a virtual credit rating agency that via Nadra and 1link+utility co+ Banks can now capture payment histories
Starting point for National Credit Bureau. Basically all apps and 3rd party services can live inside here and play harmoniously and interconnect and you unleash a secure, authenticated system of payments. If some one goes to a bank to pay a utility bill in cash the utility co
+ Bank + 1Link can still pass back that info to the Virtual Credit Bureau. It may sound complicated but if the intent is there it all adds up. Dont forget FBR all payments can now be tracked too and over time you kill the grey channel of wealth and tax avoidance.
Instead of waiting for WeChat and national payment rails to be developed, this is a short cut to building an SDK based integration platform supervised by the state esp if the state isnt moving fast enough and cooperatives with varying shareholder interests are dragging us down.
This is not going to be easy, but building national information infrastructure is hard. 1Link is in desperate need of tech modernization, let the best players help with that by opening it up. This helps cashless growth too whilst supporting the existing cash in cash out channels
It helps the acceptability of digital payments item as well. I go to a store, the store is registered with a bank account, using my gps the app can present to me who I want to pay using my supper app, gives me the 10 businesses in that location I select & pay using wallet or bank
I want to pay using my card not an issue, I select from with the app. As the business gets the money, their financial partners can now offer them better credit because they have a history. My bank wants to increase my limit they know their own data + credit bureau data.
Over time you can extend this to build a consumer protection bureau, If vendors dont play ball user can report them too. For all I care Nadra or other govt bodies can build for those use cases, as long as every one can integrate and NADRA plays ball for open access to all
Further once you have access to economic transactions, say in a futuristic state the vendors also start piping in receipt data with a QR scan powered by content providers, the country can enrich its national retail and gdp statics, better capture the bread basket so on & so forth
We need to focus on solutions. This has to be a collaborative effort, it has to start some where. If identity is key and FATF is a concern the sooner we build an ecosystem thats Made in Pakistan for Pakistan the sooner we enable digital adoption and change.
There can be plenty of b2b use cases too, like capturing input tax info based on invoices paid. This scales to any vertical and any service, so long all fintechs, banks, startups, services new and yet to be developed are all allowed equal access to use the system.
Start with Nadra+1LINK+Banks+Fintechs+Wallets+ MicroFinance Players+Bill Aggregators et all.The question is do we have the ambition to build local. You cant change what will happen,you can only change how you act in the face of it @rebootdude @jehan_ara @raza_matin @TalhaIzhar
