Bank of Khyber and Mastercard have entered into a strategic alliance aimed at expanding the bank’s digital payments portfolio, giving customers wider access to secure and modern payment options. The partnership is set to support the digitization of personal, commercial, and government transactions, tying into a broader push by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to move the province toward a more cashless economy.
Muzzammil Aslam, Minister for Finance of the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said Bank of Khyber is a strategic partner as the province works through its transition away from cash-based transactions, noting that digitized government services have expanded from just three two years ago to 170 today, spanning person-to-government, person-to-merchant, and government-to-person payments, including pension and salary disbursements processed through Raast. He pointed to the province’s population of 45 million and what he described as significant untapped potential in remittances, ecommerce, and merchant digitization, adding that the provincial government, as the bank’s major shareholder, remains committed to supporting its growth. Islam Zeb, Additional Chief Secretary of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and Chairman of Bank of Khyber, said building a cashless economy sits at the center of the bank’s strategic agenda, and that as a national bank, BoK intends to compete by offering a wide and evolving range of products tailored to customer needs.
Arslan Khan, Country Manager for Pakistan and Afghanistan at Mastercard, said the company was pleased to deepen its collaboration with Bank of Khyber, describing it as a reflection of the bank’s continued reliance on Mastercard’s payment infrastructure. He added that Mastercard remains focused on accelerating the digitization of the payments ecosystem across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, particularly within debit, credit, affluent, and SME segments, with both companies aiming to advance financial inclusion and the broader shift in Pakistan’s payments landscape. Hassan Raza, Managing Director and CEO of Bank of Khyber, called the agreement an important milestone in the bank’s digital transformation, saying the expanded card portfolio across consumer and commercial segments is meant to give customers more convenience, security, and access to modern payment tools while supporting the growth of the province’s digital economy.
No specific figures were disclosed regarding the scale of the card portfolio expansion, the timeline for rollout, or the number of customers expected to be onboarded through the partnership. Both companies indicated the collaboration marks a continuation of an existing relationship rather than a first-time engagement, with further details on specific products or services expected to follow as the partnership progresses.
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