Finja Sells Its Payments License to Opay and Doubles Down on Its Lending Business!

In a strategic move, effective October 2, 2023, Finja formally transferred Electronic Money Institution (EMI) operations to Opay International PTE. LTD. This move comes as Finja aims to focus efforts on enhancing its core products and services in Pakistan's nascent digital lending and investment landscape.

Finja's trailblazing journey as a leading Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) recently resulted in winning and currently operating the country’s first and only Peer-to-peer lending platform, Finja Invest, a recognition awarded by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP). This achievement solidified Finja's position as a key player in the lending sector. Now, Finja has the capability to attract investments from both individuals and institutions, directing these funds into carefully curated SME lending programs that promise returns higher than T-bills and term deposits offered by incumbent banks.

Finja has been operating as a digital NBFC since 2019 and, to date, has facilitated over Rs. 11 Billion in financing through 200,000+ loans disbursed to over 25,000 SMEs across 35 cities.

The digital lending fintech, through its strategic partnerships with FMCG principals, distributors, Agritech platforms, logistics companies, etc., has managed to cultivate a robust supply chain-led financing ecosystem that now benefits thousands of businesses across multiple supply chains in the country.

Finja's innovative approach revolves around purpose-built, short-term credit services for businesses, scored through its proprietary AI/ML algorithms, in alignment with Islamic principles.

With the introduction of EMI 2.0 and Banking as a Service (BaaS) solutions offered by multiple banks, Finja recognizes the opportunity to access these services without operating the EMI itself, which was previously required for digital disbursements and credit repayment collections.

Finja CEO and Co-founder Qasif Shahid stated “Creating working capital for MSMEs in Pakistan is a hard problem to solve, and Finja has established a leadership position in this area, which we now aim to capitalize on and scale quickly. The decision to offload the EMI license is part of this strategy to focus exclusively on digital lending to SMEs in Pakistan.” He further stated that Opay is well-positioned to grow the payments business in the country, and we wish them the best of luck as they embark on this new exciting journey.