NIFT, M10 Networks forge alliance to power digital B2B payments

KARACHI: The National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) of Pakistan and M10 Networks announced on Monday a partnership aimed at facilitating digital B2B payments within the country and enabling low-cost, secure, and instant cross-border transfers.

M10 enables banks to modernise money movement by providing a platform to tokenise regulated liabilities, such as central bank money, commercial bank money, and digital currencies, and offer fast, low-cost and secure B2B payments and instant cross-border transfers round the clock.

On the other hand, NIFT was established in 1995 as a joint venture between six major Pakistani banks and entrepreneurs from the private sector. It is the leading Payment System Operator in the country for cheque-clearing and the country’s foremost Digital Payment Gateway, which provides an electronic platform for clearing, processing, routing, and switching of electronic transactions in Pakistan.

The partnership between M10 and NIFT was developed in response to the 2021 overhaul of tax laws by the Federal Board of Revenue, which requires companies to make digital payments for expenditures of more than Rs 250,000.

Under the agreement, NIFT will act as the local operator of M10 platform and use the M10 shared hierarchical ledger and digital authorisation technology to authorise digital payments. NIFT will settle digital payments using its existing settlement mechanisms and in compliance with local regulations.

Subject to regulatory approval, M10 and NIFT will work together, along with nine local participating banks, to enable the authorisation of commercial payments between commercial entities in Pakistan.

“NIFT continues to play a vital and proactive role in modernising Pakistan’s payment system,” says Haider Wahab, the CEO at NIFT.

“We are committed to delivering an efficient, swift, secure, and convenient inter-bank payment system in which economic growth can further thrive. This new partnership with M10 Networks opens a range of exciting new possibilities for Pakistan’s payment infrastructure and puts it at the cutting edge of innovation in this space.”

“M10’s turnkey solution offers central banks and participating commercial banks everywhere the ability to quickly realise the benefits of digital payments in full compliance with today’s regulation and without disruption to their conventional systems,” says Marten Nelson, CEO and Co-founder of M10 Networks.

“Our shared, hierarchical ledger technology supports secure, low-cost B2B and cross-border payments and can process up to one million transactions per second. With NIFT acting as a local operator, the M10 platform will contribute significantly to the modernisation of Pakistan’s payment infrastructure and enable participating local banks to easily comply with the country’s new tax regulations.”

The project will commence in Q2 of 2022 and will be delivered in three phases with its completion slated for first half of 2023.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022