Singapore-based consortium led by fintech firm Atlas Consolidated is taking a big step towards digitization

SINGAPORE – A consortium led by Singapore’s Atlas Consolidated, which owns and operates fast-growing Wealthcare and savings app Hugosave, is one of five successful applicants to have been formally granted a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) by the State Bank of Pakistan.

HugoBank Pakistan Consortium (HugoBank) is a joint venture between The Getz Group, Atlas Consolidated and Muller & Phipps.

David Fergusson, managing director of Atlas Consolidated, said: “From over 20 applicants, we won

The proposal was to drive financial inclusion and improve the lives of millions of people

Pakistan. This is why Hugo exists – to help individuals from all walks of life

establish and build up their financial journeys.”

Ray Simkins, president of The Getz Group said, “We are extremely honored that the state

Bank of Pakistan has placed this trust in the consortium, for the systemically important role of

expand financial inclusion broadly across Pakistan. For many in Pakistan, it begins with

open a bank account.”

More than half (53%) of Pakistan’s population of 220 million are unbanked. Statens Bank of

Pakistan attributes this to the “lack of awareness about financial products and lack of fundamentals

money and financial management”. HugoBank will contribute to running financial education, offers

products and services at price ranges that are accessible to all, and contribute to a

increase in bank account penetration to 85% within 5 years.

The digital banking license will allow HugoBank to meet these challenges and provide a

range of digital banking services to financially underserved customers in Pakistan. These

include online account opening, money transfer, bill payments, consumer credit products, P2P

payments and other financial transactions. HugoBank plans to capitalize on its pioneering

technology and innovative products to offer practical and secure banking services

customers in Pakistan.

Kamran Nishat, Managing Director of Muller & Phipps Pakistan, said, “We have been present in Pakistan in

over a century, and this is a fundamentally important development for us as a group. Consumers

in Pakistan is familiar with our pharmaceutical, distribution and courier businesses. We are

extremely excited to add banking to this mix.”

The HugoBank consortium will lead with payments and account-based solutions, with a focus on

dramatically increasing bank account penetration in Pakistan. HugoBank will use The Getz

The Group’s various platforms in Pakistan to reach the consumer; either via Getz Pharma, or

Muller & Phipps, The Getz Group touches around 200 million consumers in Pakistan.

Operationally, HugoBank will utilize Atlas Consolidated’s Hugo platforms (Hugosave and

Hugoserve) to provide state-of-the-art digital banking services to Pakistan.

Herston Powers, co-founder of 1982 Ventures, an early financial backer of Atlas said: “We

have watched Atlas develop with pride. We’ve seen the team gel together, the product

the development and technological infrastructure surpasses the competition, and the company exceeds our expectations. This latest license and the opportunity it brings is a huge leap forward.”

HugoBank is currently in the process of establishing operations in Pakistan and will offer

updates on plans to launch its digital banking and wealth services in due course.