Earn Money Online With Aqeel Syed » Payment Processors

Payoneer Pakistan Ban is Lifted – Payoneer Cards Will Work in Pakistan

Aqeel Syed — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:54:44 +0000

This news is not new for most of our readers but I’m sharing it just because someone might still be looking for this information.

Yes, Payoneer’s Pakistan ban is over, thanks to Payoneer management who have made the decision to stop their partnership with Meta Bank (Previous issuer of Payoneer Master Cards). Payoneer has now partnered with Choice Bank Limited in Belize. Card limits are increased and they are now double too (good news for power freelancers).

Payoneer is shipping new Choice cards to its card holders. New Choice cards will work in Pakistan normally. So everyone should stop worrying and start enjoying their work life.

Card Verification Update

Payoneer requires verification of your identity for new cards. You have to submit a photo ID for verification. For this you can submit a scan of your driver’s license, passporte, service card (if you are a job holder) and even domicile (domicile have your photo on it and is issued by government, so its accepted too).

Payoneer accepts national ID card (in Urdu). One of my friends submitted his national ID card and his account got verified. However, I recommend you to submit English language documents for faster approval.

iKobo as Payoneer Alternative – iKobo For Business

Aqeel Syed — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:38:48 +0000

iKobo the prepaid VISA card for international money transfer to 170 countries has launched a new service, iKobo for business. This service is similar to Payoneer’s partner program in which US based companies can send payments to associates (employs, freelancers, affiliates) worldwide.

How does it work?

iKobo partners can load their iKobo account with funds from your U.S. bank account
Distribute funds to their payees either one at a time or simultaneously
Each recipient will be issued an iKobo Prepaid Card
Funds are instantly loaded onto the cards and can be withdrawn from over 1 Million ATMs or used to make purchases at the over 20 Million merchants who accept Visa

iKobo is not likely to get effected by policies of US financial institution like what happened with Payoneer (earlier this month Payoneer banned 6 other countries and Pakistan due to strict financial regulation measures taken by US authorities). Ikobo is a non US company so chances are it will continue to provide its services to countries like Pakistan. Ikobo is managed by M2 Financial, Ltd, based in Antigua, West Indies. iKobo Prepaid Visa Card is issued by Global Bank of Commerce, Ltd Intigua & Barbuda, West Indies.

iKobo supports Pakistan, so if you are a freelancer you can request your work provider (individual) or company you are working with to add iKobo as a Payoneer alternative.

More information from official iKobo for business page.

Payoneer’s Pakistan Ban is Partial – Only ATM Withdrawls Are Affected

Aqeel Syed — Wed, 05 May 2010 14:13:27 +0000

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.

Payoneer’s Pakistan Ban – Call for Action

Aqeel Syed — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:54:08 +0000

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:

Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan
Mr. Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry
Supreme Court of Pakistan, Constitutional Avenue, Islamabad

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

Why Payoneer Blocked Pakistan – The Truth

Aqeel Syed — Tue, 04 May 2010 11:05:35 +0000

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!