What Is Easypaisa? Complete Beginner's Guide

Written & reviewed by Dildar Hussain — 10+ years in Pakistani banking, BS Banking & Finance (NUML University)

Quick answer: Easypaisa is Pakistan's first digital retail bank — a mobile-first financial platform, formerly Telenor Microfinance Bank, that lets anyone with a CNIC open an account from their phone to send money, pay bills, save, borrow, and shop, without ever visiting a branch. It became a fully SBP-licensed digital retail bank in January 2025.

What is Easypaisa, exactly, in plain terms? It is the trading brand of Easypaisa Bank Limited, a State Bank of Pakistan-regulated institution built on top of Telenor's mobile network reach and Ant Group's Alipay-derived technology. Understanding what Easypaisa actually is today matters because the answer has changed twice — first from a cash-transfer service into a mobile wallet, and then from a mobile wallet into a licensed digital bank. The wallet launched in 2009; the bank itself traces back further, to a 2005 microfinance license.

What Are the Key Facts About Easypaisa?

Legal Name

Easypaisa Bank Limited

Formerly Known As

Telenor Microfinance Bank

Wallet Launched

2009

Digital Bank License

28 Jan 2025 (SBP)

Headquarters

Karachi, Pakistan

Registered Users

55 million+

President & CEO

Jahanzeb Khan

Chairman

Irfan Wahab Khan

User and leadership figures confirmed from Easypaisa's official About Us and Our Team pages (easypaisa.com.pk).

Easypaisa vs. JazzCash vs. NayaPay vs. a Regular Bank Account

The license type behind each option is the detail most "what is Easypaisa" searches are really trying to get at — it decides whether you're using a bank account, a wallet, or something in between. Here's how the four compare on the points that actually matter to a user, not just marketing copy.

The practical difference: Easypaisa's January 2025 upgrade to a full Digital Retail Bank license put it in a different regulatory category than JazzCash, which still operates under Mobilink Microfinance Bank's branchless banking license — not the same as NayaPay's EMI license or a commercial bank's license, but a step above it. For most everyday use (sending money, paying bills), the difference is invisible; it matters most if you're comparing deposit products or long-term savings.

License categories confirmed from State Bank of Pakistan licensing announcements and cross-checked against each platform's own regulatory disclosures.

How Did Easypaisa Start and Become a Digital Bank?

The institution behind Easypaisa began as Tameer Microfinance Bank, acquired by Telenor Pakistan in 2008. In 2009, Tameer and Telenor launched Easypaisa as Pakistan's first branchless mobile money service, initially an over-the-counter cash transfer product that did not even require a wallet account. Early adoption was gradual: by 2011 the platform had roughly 1.3 million customers, and by 2012 it had processed over 100 million transactions worth more than $1.4 billion.

In 2016 the bank was renamed Telenor Microfinance Bank, and in 2018 Ant Financial (now Ant Group) — the fintech affiliate of Alibaba that runs Alipay — invested $184.5 million for a 45% equity stake, bringing Alipay's mobile-payments technology into the platform. On January 28, 2025, the institution became the first entity in Pakistan to receive State Bank of Pakistan commercial approval as a Digital Retail Bank, converting from a microfinance license to a full digital-bank license and adopting the name Easypaisa Bank Limited.

Timeline confirmed from Easypaisa's official About Us page, State Bank of Pakistan's Digital Retail Bank licensing announcements, and Business Recorder's coverage of the January 2025 commercial-operations launch.

Who Owns Easypaisa?

Easypaisa Bank is a joint venture between two shareholders. Telenor Pakistan B.V., a Netherlands-incorporated subsidiary of Norway's Telenor ASA, holds a 55% majority stake. Alipay (Hong Kong) Holding Limited, a subsidiary of China's Ant Group, holds the remaining 45%. Combined, Telenor and Ant Group have invested more than $391 million in the platform since the original 2018 stake purchase.

One important, current development: Telenor sold its Pakistan telecom business to PTCL at the end of December 2025, but it deliberately carved out and retained the Easypaisa banking arm from that sale. In June 2026, Telenor retained Citigroup to explore a sale of its 55% controlling stake in Easypaisa Bank itself, separate from the earlier telecom deal. As of this writing that process is ongoing and no buyer has been publicly confirmed, so anyone relying on ownership details for a transaction or compliance purpose should verify the current shareholder structure directly with Easypaisa or the State Bank of Pakistan.

Ownership structure confirmed from PACRA's Easypaisa Bank rating report. Stake-sale process reported by Bloomberg via Business Recorder and Profit by Pakistan Today, June 2026.

Who Leads Easypaisa?

Leadership details confirmed from Easypaisa's official Directors Profiles and Our Team pages.

How Big Is Easypaisa? (FY2025 Financial Snapshot)

Easypaisa reports serving more than 55 million registered users, including a notably high 31% share of women users for a Pakistani financial platform. For the 2025 financial year, customer deposits rose sharply, current-account balances made up the large majority of the deposit base, and the bank's cost of deposits stayed low thanks to that current-account-heavy mix. Profit after tax for the year included a significant one-off deferred-tax recognition alongside underlying operating growth.

FY2025 figures as reported by Easypaisa Bank and cited in Profit by Pakistan Today's June 2026 coverage, sourced from company statements and State Bank of Pakistan data.

Easypaisa vs. a Traditional Bank Account

Because Easypaisa now holds a full Digital Retail Bank license, its accounts function as real, SBP-regulated bank accounts rather than closed-loop e-wallets. That means deposits are held in licensed accounts, users can hold savings pockets and digital term deposits starting from as short as seven days, and money can move freely to and from other banks' accounts. What still differs from a conventional bank is the branch model: Easypaisa has no physical branch network for retail customers, relying instead on its app, USSD codes, and a large agent-shop network for cash-in and cash-out.

Put simply, what is Easypaisa in 2026 is no longer the same product it was at launch — it has moved from an over-the-counter cash-transfer service, to a mobile wallet, to a fully licensed digital bank, while keeping the branchless, app-first experience that made it popular in the first place.

Good For

• Understanding Easypaisa's ownership and history before opening an account
• Confirming Easypaisa's current SBP digital-bank license status
• Learning who runs Easypaisa and how it compares to other digital banks
• Getting a fast, sourced answer instead of marketing copy

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For independent verification, see State Bank of Pakistan, Easypaisa official site, PACRA.