Pathao receives authorization to offer payment services

The subsidiary is permitted by the license to provide payment services in Bangladesh under the trade name "Pathao Pay."

The announcement that Pathao Pay would be granted a PSP license was welcomed by the company's managing director and CEO, Fahim Ahmed, who said, "We are very pleased to see the circular regarding the issuance of a PSP license to operate our digital payment wallet Pathao Pay."

He expressed his gratitude to the Bangladesh Bank for continuing to support Pathao's fintech growth and its initiatives to improve consumer access to and convenience with payments.

"The documentation is still being processed, and the company is eagerly awaiting its arrival," said Fahim.

The license gives Pathao the green light to launch its own mobile wallet, enabling its customers to take advantage of the ease of quicker and more secure cashless transactions.

Pathao, a ride-hailing, food delivery, and logistics startup founded in 2015, has a sizable young user base, enabling it to achieve operational profitability in each of the three business sectors.

Pathao Courier, a division of the corporation that offers logistics services, is Bangladesh's largest e-commerce logistics service provider.

Pathao Courier has increased more than two and a half times in size over the past year as it has broadened its geographic reach, with doorstep delivery capabilities all the way down to the village level.

Over 50,000 small businesses and over 2.5 million customers, more than 60% of whom reside outside of Dhaka, are served by Pathao Courier.

Pathao relaunched its ride-hailing service for vehicles in November of last year using a revised model that allowed the user to set their own fare rather than accepting the fare determined by a pre-established algorithm. Since the launch of the novel model, Pathao Car's daily transaction volume has surged thrice and has also assisted Pathao in making significant headway against the market leader Uber.

iPay Systems, D Money Bangladesh, Recursion FinTech, Green & Red Technologies, and Progoti Systems are the other five PSP license holders in addition to Pathao.