Introduction On Dec 23, 2020, British American Tobacco was reported as the first notable MNC to move its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) activities to Pakistan after the withdrawal of Deutsche Bank’s operations. The move has been interpreted in an optimistic fashion, as a sign that there is increasing foreign investor trust in the country. Details…
as a reflective exercise, this article allows for a birds’ eye view on the journey being taken by all payment service providers, and particularly VRG Pakistan as they strive to make use of the State Bank’s PSO/PSP license and literally, ‘take banking to the streets’ and under-developed areas via the e-wallet solution [*2262#] and AMA…
A lot of the concerns mentioned in the previous article generally comes down to standards of project management, part of which includes identifying multiple possible means to an end, and equally considering for worst case scenarios. Issues of mismanagement, low adoption of technology, and incidents of corruption were unexpected, as these were all previously handled…
The World Bank describes how cash transfers are considered to be ‘central in mitigating the impact of the upcoming recession’, and that doing this will ensure that consumption by the poorest segments of the population contributes to local economies. The main suggestion for the government on this issue would be to not just give them…
Last month, the PM Imran Khan announced the country’s biggest emergency cash program, with a value of Rs 144bn, to disburse Rs 12,000 to approx. 12m beneficiaries. The World Bank has praised the PTI government’s EHSAAS welfare program, and its effectiveness in providing aid under the critical threat environment formed by the sharp spike in…
Overview What we are generally analysing in this context is the shift in global power following the election of Donald Trump as POTUS and the acceleration of China’s ‘Multinational Infrastructure Projects’ as per the BRI formula, of which Pakistan’s portion via CPEC is of key importance. As part of its role in this framework, Pakistan…
The core of the global shift in power dynamics, away from the ‘Westphalian’ global order formed after WW2 and the growth of China and Russia as global powers, along with the deterioration of Western modes of governance and authority, has created a new cold war and struggle to establish new rules and norms. Part of…
Adware Used to throw advertisements on targets screens, disguises itself as legitimate, or will pair itself with legitimate program in order to trick users into installing it onto a PC or other device. Spyware Secretly observes computer user’s activities without permission and reports to software author. Virus Malware which attaches to another program and replicates…
Background Factors The pathway towards establishing digital services as a part of the financial system appears to have been in construction for a significant period of time. A research paper referred to during the writing of an internal report outlining feasibility for the expansion of ATM management services offered some insight into the growth of…
Cyber warfare against critical infrastructure of a target is something which has become a staple of aggressive nations’ hybrid warfare program, and it is expected to take place between major superpowers i.e. Russia, China and the US in the long term. On a smaller scale, neighbor’s with particularly severe political and diplomatic relations such as…
