State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) revoked in-principle approval and pilot operations approval granted to fintech Miss. TAG Innovation Pvt. Ltd – referred to as TAG – to operates as an Electronic Money Institution (EMI).
Fintech TAG, launched in 2020, describes itself as Pakistan’s first digital financial super app, combining everyday banking services, instant P2P and an online payment mechanism. Last year, TAG closed a $5.5 million seed round led by Quiet capital and Liberty City Ventures valuing the company at $100 million.
According to the SBP – Central Bank of Pakistan – its action is to protect the public after it found a breach of its regulatory requirements and other issues during the TAG pilot operations.
EMIs are entities that offer innovative, easy-to-use and cost-effective low-cost digital payment instruments such as wallets, prepaid cards and contactless payment instruments. Licenses are issued by SBP to non-banking entities in three stages viz. approval in principle, approval for pilot operations and approval for commercial operations.
A pilot operation is conducted to assess the readiness of the business for commercial activity and only after its successful completion, a license to start commercial activity is given to the respective EMI.
TAG Innovation has been advised to close all customers’ wallets and remove its app from GooglePlay Store and An appleApp Store on and any other platform with a quick effect.
Previous warning
In August 2022, SBP asked TAG to refund all outstanding funds to its wallet holders after noticing violations of regulatory requirements and “other concerns”. On August 4, SBP asked TAG to complete the restoration by August 19.
Frances Bignell
State Bank of Pakistan Revokes Licence of Fintech TAG Amid Regulatory Concerns
