आईसीटी समाचार
Users of mVISA can now pay by scanning the Fonepay QR code. Visa and Fonepay collaborated on this on Thursday. Foreign tourists who have joined the Visa network will also be able to conduct business in Nepal by scanning the Fonepay QR code. F1Soft recently celebrated its 18th anniversary, having been founded on March 6, 2004. The company held a Fonepay and Visa launch event on the 10 th of March, 2022. Scan to Pay is now available in Nepal, thanks to a partnership between Visa and Fonepay.
The Visa and Fonepay launch event was attended by Manuel Micaller, Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy, and Bishwas Dhakal, President of F1Soft. Diwas Sapkota, Assistant Chief Executive Officer of Fonepay, welcomed the audience and spoke about the company's success. Since the inception of Fonepay, he has been a part of the company. For the past three years, he said, Fonepay has been successfully expanding its products and services in Nepal.
Fonepay also stated that its QR Payment, Fund Transfer, and Online Payment services are aimed at reaching every Nepali.
"We've been working with Visa for the past two years to bridge the gap between Nepali and international markets," Sapkota said.
Through the Fonepay network, we've also launched a Visa to Visa Scan to Pay service.' Sapkota also expressed optimism that the agreement would make digital payments more accessible to micro and small businesses. He stated that Fonepay has worked on this project to develop infrastructure that is safe, fast, cheap, simple, and secure.
He believes that this agreement will make paying for anything in Nepal easier for tourists. "Visa cardholders can now pay at any store by scanning their card," he said.
He also revealed that Fonepay has a financial partnership with over 600,000 businesses, allowing them to accept digital payments. In addition, he predicted that the number would rise in the coming days.
Sapkota is optimistic that this project will contribute to the advancement of Nepal's cashless Society concept. Fonepay will also work closely with BFIs, PSPs, and banks to improve non-contact QR payments, according to Sapkota.
He also thanked the Governor of Rastra Bank and the entire Rastra Bank family, as well as the Nabil Bank and Visa teams.
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Soumya Basu, Visa's Country Manager, then spoke on the occasion. He has been with Visa since 2016, and is responsible for overall visa management, strategy development, and implementation in Nepal, Bangladesh, and India. "Visa aspires to connect the world throughthrough a secure and reliable weight workxplained. Visa is a well-known brand, and we are at the forefront of the payment industry. Fonepay is all about connecting people to the global economy, and that's what we're all about.'
Visas have been in use in Nepal for more than 25 years, and the agreement is a watershed moment for visas, according to Basu. He also expressed gratitude to Rastra Bank and Nabil Bank. He stated that he is happy working with the country with a population of 30 million.
He also revealed that there are approximately 9 million Visa cardholders in Nepal. He explained that Visa cardholders will be able to use the Visa-powered Scan to Pay app in the coming days. As a tourist destination, this agreement will be extremely beneficial following the arrival of tourists in Nepal, according to Basu.
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He stated that tourists will be able to conduct even the smallest transactions using a Visa card rather than cash. Following that, Nabil Bank's Chief Executive Officer, Anil Keshary Shah, spoke at the event. He began his banking career in Nepal with Standard Charter, where he worked for 13 years. Since 2018, he has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Nabil Bank. He discussed the significance of international cooperation and how it is carried out. H e made his point through the presentation slide. He was also a part of the team working to bring Visa cards to Nepal.
He also talked about how he persuaded merchants to use the card machine back then. It was difficult to explain the concept of the Visa card to Nepali people at the time, and businessmen couldn't understand why they used it without taking money, but now that there are approximately 9 million Visa cardholders in Nepal, they believe we've come a long way. Visa cards will now be accepted in the villages, making it easier for tourists to make purchases, he said.
"Until cash was available, tourists could only spend a certain amount of money, but now that they have a card, they are afraid of running out of money, so they will be encouraged to work with local businessmen," Keshari Shah said.
He described Nepal's current situation as "revolutionary." Every Nepali can now go to a small seller and pay with a QR code thanks to Fonepay. He also stated that providing QR service in Nepal would be impossible without Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari.
Guru Prasad Poudel, Executive Director, Payment Systems Department, Nepal Rastra Bank
The integration between the visa and fonepay as a payment facilitator would be instrumental in developing the overall landscape of the Nepal’s payment industry and this day can be marked as another milestone for the Nepalese payment system. Collaboration of the Nepal payment system operator fonepay with the world's market leader in the card networks like Visa is a matter of pride.
I believe this Collaboration will make fortune in the days ahead offering initiatives in the operable services to the general public of Nepal initiated with an objective to facilitate QR based payments by integrating Visa card and swing application like mobile banking this integration will create convenience for the foreigners making payment for the Nepal for the purchase of goods and services.
We are expecting more tourist to travel to Nepal. With such partnership, it will be easy for tourist to make the payments. I believe this integration will also contribute towards the enabling interoperability in payments as it is aligned with the regulation of the interoperable issued around one month back by Nepal Rastra Bank. Appreciating the contribution of the Visa and fonepay in promoting digital payment in Nepal, I believe this Collaboration will help us achieve our goal of establishing a cashless society and through the cost reduction and risk mitigation.
Fonepay has taken the initiative of pre MDR and Nepal Rastra bank has welcomed this initiative to transform the Nepalese economy digitally. We insist all QR operators or licensed entities subsidize fees for a couple of years as part of digital initiative.
I hope this agreement will not increase the cost to the general public and the system as whole. I believe this had considered the importance of data routed within the country in QR payment also.
Manuel Micaller, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy
This collaboration between Visa, an American multinational financial services corporation and Fonepay, a digital payment processor that connects consumers, banks and merchants In an interoperable network to facilitate mobile, digital payments. We at the US Embassy are really pleased to see business connections between Nepal and the USA.
Visa is one of the Americans most recognizable brands and needs no introduction since its launch in 1958 it has remained relevant through continuous innovation and leadership in financial and payments technologies.
Visa also has a long, distinguished history of corporate social responsibility and has been a model for other companies. This tradition continues today. We commend Visa's principal decision to suspend operations in Russia support of the Ukrainian people. And we thank Visa CEO, Kelly for his leadership of the private sector on this issue. As CEO Kelly so powerfully stated “I quote this war and the ongoing threat to peace and stability demand.
We respond in line with our values and quote.” I am happy with this collaboration between Visa and Fonepay not just because Visa is a well-known American brand but because it is a symbol of the kind of opportunities that American companies and products can find here in Nepal.
Creating sustainable economic growth is one of the top priorities of the US Embassy. If Nepal is going to grow its economy, the private sector will have to play a leading role and the country must become more welcoming to foreign direct investment. We want to see more American company gives services like Visa available in Nepal to the Nepalese people.
Attracting quality foreign investors and product and services required a supportive and stable business and investment climate as we all know foreign investment creates jobs, fosters competition, increases the quality of products in the market place and helps to create economic opportunity for all. And that will benefit both Nepal and the United States.
Biswas Dhakal, President, F1Soft Group
F1Soft is in a banking technology since last 18 years. When we start developing the mobile financial services, mobile banking products so we found there is a gap where F1Soft played big role on doing the payment processing locally. And that's how Fonepay came in picture. So 2 and half years back almost 3 years back we came with the brand Fonepay just to enable all the financial institutions, all the payment company to do the interoperable transactions domestically.
And when we had a vision to build a phone pay as interoperable platform, always there will an iconic brand or iconic company whom to follow, whom to be, make your a bench marking for the quality of service and the standard assets that you need to deliver in this market.
So Visa always been our brand where Fonepay develop its core to provide the standard service that Visa learned in last 60 years.
So, today Fonepay all the time not only in the transactions processing but if you see all the guidelines, all the standardization, all the mechanisms that we have developed back in office is almost everything is followed by the Visa standard. So that's the only reason this project is very much connected with our heart. And this project us the showcase of of today we partner with the iconic brand whom we see all the times as our standardization to follow and to make a phone pay a Visa of Nepal.
