EZ Wage, 1LINK sign accord to digitize payment channels

LAHORE - The strategic alliance with 1LINK will enableEZ Wage to access all member banks on 1LINK’s portal and will facilitate 24/7 disbursement in real-time when employees opt to withdraw a portion of their earned wages using the state-of-the-art EZ Wage mobile application.

Singapore-based EZ Wage is one of the first financial wellness platforms in Pakistan that offers Earned Wage Access (EWA), allowing users the benefit of retrieving a portion of their hard-earned money before payday. This revolutionary employee benefit not only boosts the morale and performance of employees but also benefits employers by reducing the workload of their HR/Finance departments and does not tie up their own working capital.

Needless to say, the backdrop of inflation and global recession coupled with rigorous downsizing during the pandemic has spurred people into considering sources of borrowing money, such as friends and family as well as loan sharks which may not necessarily work in their favour in the long run. This renders the future of digitized payments and EWA quite promising in the region.

Present at the occasion were Mr Najeeb Agrawalla, CEO 1LINK, Fatima Batool, Founder of CEO EZ Wage and Mr Hisham Naseem, Global CFO EZ Wage, along with their respective teams. Both parties expressed mutual interest in shifting payments to digital channels so that the end beneficiaries can become more self-reliant and secure when it comes to their money. 

Mr Hisham Naseem, Global CFO of EZ Wage commented, “This partnership with 1LINK will enable EZ Wage to fulfil its mission of revolutionizing financial wellness for the masses and will advance women empowerment and financial inclusion in the country.”

Ms Fatima Batool, CEO of EZ Wage, added, “We are honoured to onboard 1LINK as our official Payment Solution Provider in Pakistan. This is another leap towards financial inclusivity and wellness for the masses. We hope that the enablement of real-time withdrawals makes monetary emergencies less daunting for the employees we are catering to. Not only is 1LINK the most secure channel to route funds, but it is also the most reliable.”

The signing of this partnership agreement highlights the move towards financial inclusion in the region as well as the digitization of payments. Owing to EZ Wage’s focus on women and other marginalized segments of society, this alliance is expected to help the underbanked in emerging markets.