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Today Payoneer support provided details regarding ban and it appears that this ban is limited in nature, its not complete ban for Pakistani cardholders. So please don’t through away your card, keep it as you can still use it partially and have good hopes that this problem may get fixed soon.

Due to a change in requirements from our regulators, we are no longer able to issue cards to some countries listed by the US government as having strategic AML (Anti-Money Laundering) deficiencies.

After May 31st, you will no longer be able to use the card inside Pakistan. However, you will be able to make online purchases with international websites (that are not located in Pakistan). You will also be able to continue receiving payouts and private payments into your Payoneer account. Please note that you will be able to use the Payoneer card regularly outside of Pakistan at any place that accepts MasterCard.

It means,

• You will be able to use card outside of Pakistan at ATMs.
• You can still make payments to online merchants except Pakistani merchants.
• You will be able to receive private loads and partner payouts.
• No more new cards for Pakistani users.
• No ATM withdrawals within Pakistan or other restricted countries.

A good news for all those who have to pay hosting bills and was worried of service suspension. Also being an optimist I see opportunity in this situation, there are workarounds available for receiving payments from Payoneer after May 31st.

For example you can fund your MoneyBookers account from Payoneer card and then receive these funds using SWIFT transfer to your Pakistani bank account. You will lose extra few dollars but you will still be able to receive funds.

Something is better then nothing Meanwhile we should continue to air our voices so that Pakistani law makers may hear us.

With Payoneer banning Pakistan, Pakistani freelancer community is very desperate and looking to find ways to solve this problem. First step was to recognize problem, which I discussed here. It happened due to expiration of anti-money laundering ordinance of 2008 and right now Pakistan is lawless when it comes to anti-money laundering & anti-terrorist funding laws. This caused US authorities to issue strict regulations for Pakistan and Payoneer iteslf is effected by these regulations.

Many readers asked me to take action and suggest a way to take action. I suggest you to contact both sides i.e, Payoneer and Gov. of Pakistan. Here are 3 steps:

1. Contact Payoneer support and its senior management requesting to remove this ban or at-least provide limited service.
You can contact Gil Abir, VP Payoneer by emailing him at gil@payoneer.com
This is his linkedin profile, if you are an avid Linkedin user may be you would like to contact Mr. Abir through Linkedin.

2. Contact Pakistani law makers, new anti-money laundering bill is approved from National Assembly and now it has to get approval from senate. If Senate approves this bill then problem itself get corrected. Senate’s next meeting is to be held at 05:00 PM, 5th May, 2010
It means tomorrow, so why don’t write an email to senate. Senate’s official email address is, senate@comsats.net.pk
Contact numbers of Chairman Senate and others can be find here, http://www.senate.gov.pk/lists/currentmem091215.htm

3. As a last resort I plan to write a letter to Chief Justice of Pakistan, requesting him to take notice of current situation. Also requesting him to inquire State Bank of Pakistan & PTA about their policies regarding e-Commerce gateway for Pakistan (this can help bringing PayPal to Pakistan).
If you also want to write, address for CJ:

Do you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to share through comments section.

Like every other Payoneer user from Pakistan I became insane after reading support email. However after coming to senses I had done some research about why Payoneer blocked Pakistan. Many readers left comments on earlier post about Payoneer ban for doing protest to Payoneer.

Friends you do not need to protest Payoneer, don’t even have to blame them and they can’t help us in this situation. They have to follow policies of US regularity authorities and its what they are doing.

Reason for this ban is Pakistani law makers.  On March 26th, 2010 Pakistan’s Anti-Money Laundering ordinance of 2008 has expired. So right now Pakistan is a lawless country without any anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist funding laws. Due to that Asia Pacific Group on Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has put Pakistan in category III of risk countries for financial transactions.

Due to absence of proper anti-money laundering laws in Pakistan US government issued new regulations for its financial institutions. This is why Payoneer has included Pakistan in banned countries.

This is a negligence at end of Pakistani law makers who failed to renew the existing ordinance or approve the new anti-money laundering bill which is already approved by national assembly. According to a story published in TheNews Pakistani senate had a meeting on March 18th in which this law was put forward but the senate “had some other important affairs” to deal with so this  law discussion was moved forward to future senate meeting.

Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Finance Senator Ahmed Ali said the committee under his chairmanship approved the bill in great haste with conditions that this bill would be tabled again within one year as the committee wanted to bring certain improvements in it. However, he deplored that their hard work could not bring the desired fruit as the Senate was prorogued without passing such an important bill.

“Despite our hectic work, the Senate did not pass this bill,” he said and concluded that there was still sufficient time available till March 26 and the government should summon the session of upper house on immediate basis in order to pass this bill in the supreme national interest.

No one is our enemy, not Payoneer, not even US government but our own government and law makers. Right now Pakistan officially do not have any anti-money laundering laws. Kudos!

31 minutes earlier I received an ominous email from Payoneer support stating that users from certain countries including Pakistan can no longer use their Payoneer card due to new anti-money laundering laws by US government.

Due to a change in requirements from our regulators, as of June 1, 2010 Payoneer cards will be blocked for transactions in the countries listed by the US government as having strategic Anti Money Laundering (AML) deficiencies. This change will affect card usage in the following countries: Angola, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Sao Tome and Principe.

If your card is in use in one of the countries listed, we encourage you to use all funds by May 31, while transactions are still possible in these countries.

Please note that beyond May 31 your card will continue to be fully functional in all countries not banned by the US government, and we will be happy to load payments to the card without any change.

We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that the Payoneer card will continue to provide you with valuable service.

This is a very bad news for every freelancer and web entrepreneur who was completely relying on Payoneer. In this email one question remains unanswered that users will still be able to receive funds and use Payoneer cards to make transactions to US merchants. I had asked this question to Payoneer support and now waiting for their reply. Will keep my readers updated at this situation.

Update: Reasons for Payoneer’s ban of Pakistan.

Update 2: Call for Action

Update 3: Payoneer’s Ban is Partial

Straight from my Linchpin Seth Godin,