HugoBank

Partnerships, Growth & New Bets

Sabhi - Identity for All

Led all revenue related teams including Partnerships, Business Development, Sales, Customer Support, Account Management and Business Operations.

Co-Founder - COO

Hoola Inc

Led all Hoola sales and business development teams (including field sales, inside sales, enterprise sales/partnerships, sales development, sales enablement, professional services, sales engineering and sales operations & strategy). Focused on helping sellers of all sizes (small local businesses to national brands) grow their business and improve their operations through Hoola's service offerings & tools.

Co-Founder - Strategy & Operations

Enekon

Led customer facing and business analytics teams (including Channel Strategy, Customer Engagement, Account Management, Operations Analysis, Beta Programs and Professional Services) to optimize the end to end lifecycle experience and revenue generation of Enekon's existing customer base.

Co-Founder - Sales

Schlumberger

Field Engineer

Philip Morris International

Environmental Health Safety Engineer

Focused on making everyday financing solutions faster, simpler and more accessible for everyone.

🚀 A New Chapter for HugoBank

We have moved into our new home, a space that reflects the energy, ambition, and purpose behind HugoBank’s journey.

Noman and I worked closely to bring this vision to life - a place built for bold thinking, collaboration, and the mission to redefine how Pakistan experiences banking.

This is more than an office. It is where the next chapter of HugoBank’s story begins, powered by people who believe in building something extraordinary.

Special thanks to: Kickstart, Khawaja Raza Abbas, Hassan Shahid

#HugoBank #DigitalBanking #Fintech #Pakistan #NewBeginnings

Muhammad Faysal

How e-Commerce Authentication Works: Why 3D-Secure 2 Matters for Pakistan

Online payments are only as strong as the authentication behind them. The 3D-Secure 2 (3DS2) protocol adopted globally by Visa, Mastercard, American Express and others provides the backbone of secure e-commerce. It works through two main flows:

✅ Frictionless flow: Low-risk transactions get approved instantly with no extra steps for the customer.

✅ Challenge flow: Higher-risk transactions trigger additional verification (OTP, biometric, app confirmation) which ensures the genuine cardholder is behind the purchase.

Why this matters for Pakistan:

1. E-commerce trust gap: Cart abandonment remains high when customers fear fraud. A smooth 3DS2 rollout can reduce false declines while keeping fraud in check.

2. SBP and PSP compliance: Regulators are pushing for stronger authentication to meet global standards and protect consumers.

3. Merchant enablement: From Daraz to small Shopify stores, merchants need low-friction payments that do not kill conversion.

4. Digital bank opportunity: With Pakistan’s retail shift to QR, wallets, and cards, 3DS2 is central to building confidence in card-not-present (CNP) transactions.

In short: 3DS2 is not just a security protocol, it is a growth lever for Pakistan’s digital economy since it balances fraud prevention with user experience.

Source: Roger Abouantoun

Revolut isn’t just expanding - it’s stacking licenses like trophies.

📍 Morocco: Ex-Uber exec on board + local lobbyist Hatim Benjelloun to steer licensing.

📍 South Africa: Entering a crowded field with TymeBank entrenched. 

📍 UAE: In-principle Payments License secured by Ambareen Musa - key Gulf launchpad.

📍 LatAm: Filing in Peru, Colombia on track for 2026 ops. 

📍 US: $500M bet to push for a full banking license.

💡 For digital banks, licenses aren’t just paperwork - they’re the moat. Each one compounds distribution, valuation, and staying power.

Source: Marcel van Oost

Distribution is the moat.

Not flashy features. Not “super apps.” The next decade of digital banking belongs to whoever controls the on-ramps - the places where intent is born and transactions actually start.

Across markets you can already see the playbook harden: banks are moving upstream to own touchpoints and workflows, not just accounts. Monzo Bank is testing an MVNO so the SIM in your phone becomes part of the retention stack. Nubank’s NuCel folds connectivity into the bank itself. Wise meets cross-border intent directly inside Google Search/Wallet. Starling pulled accounting, payroll, and tax into the bank by acquiring Ember. Secondary markets are rewarding operators that pair distribution control with disciplined economics. 

Why this matters: owning the “front door” compresses CAC, deepens engagement, and makes switching irrational. It’s less feature sprawl and more default status - becoming the place where payments, receivables, compliance, and working capital live by default.

Zooming into Pakistan (where I spend my time):

The rails and reach to build durable distribution moats are arriving fast: Raast P2M deadlines are forcing universal merchant acceptance (QR at minimum), and 1LINK’s 1GO is accelerating aggregated acceptance at scale. Meanwhile, telco-led agent & merchant networks already blanket the country - exactly the kind of physical-digital mesh that turns banking access into everyday habit. 

How a distribution-first bank should execute (our lens at HugoBank):

✅ Own intent surfaces: embed Raast P2M and 1LINK 1GO acceptance into priority SME and retail journeys; make “pay, get paid, reconcile” one motion. 

✅Meet cash where it lives: plug into nationwide agent networks and cash-in/out corridors (CDMs, OTC) so liquidity is never a blocker for digital. 

✅Live inside workflows: stitch into distributor/retailer ERPs and invoicing so merchant credit, settlement, and tax are invisible and automatic.

✅Anchor locally, scale credibly: build on SBP’s digital banking framework, then compound with ecosystem partnerships (telcos, schemes, banks, ERPs) rather than trying to do everything alone. 

TL;DR: In 2025 the game has shifted from “more users” to intelligent distribution - control of touchpoints + disciplined economics. In Pakistan, Raast P2M + 1GO + telco footprints create a uniquely high-leverage canvas. Banks that become the default entry point - for consumers and SMEs - won’t just grow; they’ll compound. That’s the bar we’re building to clear.

📸 C-Innovation

Onboarding: The First Friction Point in Pakistan’s Merchant Journey

Merchant onboarding defines the relationship between a bank and its clients. In Pakistan, the process is still slow and inefficient which frustrates small and mid-sized merchants.

Key global pain points:

❌ 56% of banks lack automated pre-screening
❌ 78% face fragmented KYC and identity verification
❌ 65% use outdated credit-risk models
❌ 21% report delays in provisioning payments infrastructure

For Pakistani merchants this often means repeated document requests, inconsistent checks and long delays before they can accept payments.

At HugoBank we are building a different path by:

✅Using Muller & Phipps Pakistan (Private) Limited retail footprint to digitize screening and history checks

✅Enabling biometric and digital KYC for faster verification

✅Applying AI-driven underwriting for smarter risk checks

✅Offering real-time payment infrastructure for instant go-live

Our aim is simple: reduce friction, expand financial inclusion and help merchants spend less time waiting and more time growing their business.

👉 What is the one change that could most improve onboarding in Pakistan?

Source: Capgemini

🚨 Revolut  is making moves in Nubank ’s back garden.

Local business press reports that Revolut has applied for a banking license with Peru’s SBS. If approved, this could mark Peru’s first fully digital bank license.

Why Peru matters:

🌎 Population: ~34.6M

👩‍🎓 Young market: Nearly half the population is under 30

🏦 Account ownership: Just 57% of adults have a bank account (The World Bank Findex 2021) - meaning millions remain unbanked

💼 Informality: ~70% of workers are in the informal economy

📊 Financial inclusion score: 46/100 (Credicorp  Index, 2024)

That’s not just a gap - it’s a massive opportunity. 

Peru is young, mobile-first, and increasingly digital.

🤔 If Revolut secures the license and fine-tunes an inclusion play - on-ramps for informal workers, low-cost remittances, debit-first journeys, and nano-credit with responsible underwriting - this won’t be just another market entry. It could help rewrite the financial playbook in the Andes.

#Fintech #Revolut #Peru #FinancialInclusion #DigitalBanking

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