HBL to introduce PayPak credit cards
HBL Microfinance Bank (HBL MfB), 1LINK (Pvt) Limited, and Euronet Pakistan have signed a landmark tripartite agreement to introduce Pakistan’s first PayPak Credit Card, with HBL Microfinance Bank as PayPak’s inaugural credit card partner, a press release says. This milestone marks an important development in Pakistan’s payments landscape.
HBL Microfinance Bank plans to introduce the PayPak credit card across four variants: Green, Standard, Pink and Edge, designed to provide customers with greater choice and flexibility in meeting their livelihood needs. This initiative is part of the bank’s broader plans to introduce both conventional and Islamic PayPak Credit Card offerings, expanding access to innovative credit solutions for microfinance customers across Pakistan.
Pathfinder’s Karachi chapter
Pathfinder CITADEL formally launched its Karachi chapter last week in partnership with Global Shapers Pakistan, bringing together leaders from industry, academia, technology, entrepreneurship, and the youth ecosystem around the theme “Youth, Technology & the Future of Pakistan from Youth Potential to National Impact”, a press release reports.
The launch marked an important expansion of Pathfinder CITADEL’s engagement in Karachi and established the Karachi chapter as a platform for connecting young Pakistanis with industry needs, emerging technologies, academic knowledge, entrepreneurial ecosystems and opportunities for national and international engagement.
Protecting food security
Pakistan’s ability to protect its food security will increasingly depend on enabling farmers to make better and more timely decisions at critical stages of crop production, said Zeeshan Baig, Country General Manager, Syngenta Pakistan, while speaking at the Pakistan Agriculture Coalition’s Agri-Connections 2026 conference in Lahore.
Zeeshan Baig said that while emerging technologies have significant potential to transform agriculture, their real value lies in helping farmers address practical decisions they face every day, from when to sow and irrigate to how quickly they identify and respond to pest and disease threats.
Illustrating what he described as the “moments that matter” in agriculture, he shared the example of Shakeel, a cotton farmer from interior Sindh who spotted signs of an insect infestation in his crop but was unable to obtain technical assistance in time. By the time support became available, the infestation had spread and resulted in losses of around Rs1.8 million.
He contrasted the experience with the farmer’s ability today to use a smartphone-based crop diagnostic application to photograph an affected plant, identify the problem and obtain timely guidance, demonstrating how relatively simple technology can improve decision-making at the point when intervention matters most.
L’Oréal Pakistan’s sustainability award
L’Oréal Pakistan has secured first position in the “Sustainability Award – Four Pillars of Excellence” category for small and medium-sized enterprises at the Global Compact Network Pakistan (GCNP) Sustainability Awards 2026, according to a press release. This recognition reflects the alignment of L’Oréal’s operations and strategies with the ten universally accepted principles of the UN Global Compact in the areas of human rights, labour, the environment and anti-corruption, as well as its contribution to the UN SDGs. L’Oréal Groupe has been a member of the UN Global Compact since 2003 and has been consistently recognised as a UN Global Compact LEAD company for embedding the SDGs into its core strategy.
Jubilee’s increased digital security
Jubilee Life Insurance has partnered with Unikrew Solutions to implement a Multi-Biometric Verification System (MBVS)-compliant digital insurance onboarding solution, strengthening secure digital identity verification and enabling biometric-based customer onboarding. The collaboration brings together Jubilee Life’s focus on digital transformation and customer experience with Unikrew Solutions’ expertise in digital identity and biometric technologies, according to a press release.
Through the partnership, Jubilee Life will leverage Nadra’s MBVS compliance standards, with the solution incorporating camera-based fingerprint acquisition and facial biometric verification for remote identity verification. The initiative is designed to strengthen identity assurance, reduce reliance on manual verification and make the insurance onboarding journey more seamless, secure and accessible.
Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, October 5th, 2026
