VEON's Pakistan financial services business processes Rs6.9 trillion in transactions, doubles its active merchant network and reports a sixfold jump in nine-month profit.
KARACHI, Nov 7 (Focus Pakistan) - Pakistanis pushed Rs6.9 trillion through JazzCash and its sister businesses in just three months, but the real driver of JazzCash revenue isn’t payments. It’s lending.
VEON’s third-quarter results show that its Pakistan financial services arm grew revenue 67.6 percent year-on-year to Rs43.4 billion in the quarter ended September 30. The arm includes JazzCash, Mobilink Microfinance Bank and JazzSure, the former TPL Insurance. Net profit reached Rs6.8 billion. Profit before tax nearly quadrupled, climbing 296.8 percent to Rs8.9 billion.
Credit did the heavy lifting. Credit-related revenue rose 60.3 percent to Rs26.1 billion, about 60 percent of the quarter’s total. Payments and transactions, the part of the business most customers know from the app, brought in Rs9.73 billion. Investment income added Rs5.24 billion.
The lending numbers show why. On an average day in the quarter, JazzCash sent out more than 230,000 nano-loans. Over a 24-hour day that comes to about 160 a minute. At the end of September, nano-loans accounted for Rs46.1 billion of the loan book. The bank’s conventional lending made up another Rs88.5 billion, taking the total portfolio to Rs134.6 billion, up 51.9 percent in a year.
Credit quality improved on both sides of the business. JazzCash recovered 93.2 percent of its nano-loans, compared with 91.5 percent a year earlier. At the bank, bad loans now make up 8.1 percent of the book, down from 10.4 percent.
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That growth still costs money. Loan-loss provisions rose 33.2 percent to Rs11.2 billion, which is more than half of the Rs20 billion the business earned in operating profit before provisions. The pre-provision figure itself jumped 88.3 percent. EBITDA more than doubled, rising 137.2 percent to Rs13.84 billion.
Transaction value up 79 percent
The business handled Rs6.9 trillion in gross transaction value during the quarter, against Rs3.86 trillion in the same period of 2025, a gain of 79.2 percent.
Branchless banking accounts climbed 21.6 percent to 65 million. Active customers numbered 30.4 million in the quarter, a 15.6 percent gain on last year. Those customers also came back to the app far more often. The average active customer made 53.5 percent more transactions, and total volumes rose 72.8 percent.
Shopkeepers drove a large share of the surge. Active merchants more than doubled to 957,100 from 431,300, and the total merchant base neared two million by September.
Over the first nine months the profit jump looks even sharper. Net profit hit Rs13.3 billion after a 505.5 percent rise, roughly six times last year’s level. Revenue grew at a slower pace, 58.4 percent, to Rs116.2 billion. And Rs6.8 billion of that nine-month profit came in July, August and September alone.
Spectrum and an insurer
VEON spent the year building around the wallet. In March, its telecom arm JazzWorld Pakistan Limited took the largest share of Pakistan’s spectrum auction, winning 190 MHz for about USD240 million. In July, Jazz International Holding Limited closed its USD16 million purchase of a 76.33 percent stake in TPL Insurance after the Competition Commission of Pakistan cleared the deal. JazzWorld also hedged Rs75 billion of floating-rate debt through two interest rate swaps with United Bank Limited.
VEON says the combined business pairs JazzCash’s customer and merchant reach with the bank’s regulated licence and the new insurance arm. The aim is to widen access to payments, credit, savings, investments and insurance.
