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KARACHI: Pakistan-origin fintech ABHI has partnered with the UAE’s Al Fardan Exchange to launch a salary-advance service that allows migrant workers to access up to half of their earned income before payday in a move designed to improve cash-flow flexibility for millions of expatriates, the companies said on Tuesday. 

The collaboration, the first of its kind between a Pakistani fintech and a UAE exchange house, seeks to boost financial inclusion across the Gulf by offering underbanked and unbanked workers digital access to short-term liquidity. The service, available through AlfaPay, Al Fardan Exchange’s app and its network of more than 90 branches, combines ABHI’s earned-wage-access technology with Al Fardan’s long-established remittance infrastructure.

ABHI, founded in 2021 and backed by Hub71 and the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO), operates across the GCC and has processed more than $500 million in transactions through partnerships with over 5,000 companies. 

“The launch of Salary Advance is a milestone in our mission to champion financial inclusion and deliver solutions that truly make a positive impact on people’s lives,” said Hasan Fardan Al Fardan, CEO of Al Fardan Exchange. “By giving customers the ability to access their wages early, we are empowering them with financial flexibility and the means to support their families anytime.”

Omar Ansari, Co-founder and CEO of Abhi Middle East Limited, added: “This partnership with Al Fardan Exchange is not just a partnership but a transformation in how workers experience financial autonomy. By becoming the first exchange in the UAE to go live with ABHI’s earned-wage-access, we are redefining the way income and remittances work for millions of expatriates.”

Together, the two companies say the initiative will reshape how low-income earners manage wages and remittances, strengthening household resilience and setting a benchmark for inclusive, technology-driven financial services across the region.

With around 1.8 million Pakistani expatriates living and working in the UAE — one of the largest expat communities in the Gulf — the new salary advance program could bring significant benefits. 

Many of these workers are employed in low- and middle-income sectors and rely on monthly remittances to support families back home. By giving them access to earned wages before payday, the initiative is expected to reduce reliance on informal borrowing, prevent debt cycles, and enable more timely remittances to Pakistan, where foreign inflows from overseas workers are a crucial source of national income.

ISLAMABAD: The chief minister of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province this week announced her government would provide Rs100 billion [$352 million] in financial assistance for victims of this year’s monsoon floods, vowing to ensure transparency and merit in its distribution. 

Unusually heavy rains exacerbated by climate change and excess floodwaters released by dams in India caused cataclysmic floods in Punjab in late August. The deluges killed over 130 people and affected over 4.5 million others, forcing the provincial government to evacuate more than 2.6 million people from high-risk areas. 

Nationwide, deadly monsoon rains and floods killed over 1,000 people and 22,000 livestock since late June and washed away over 2.2 million acres of crops, as per data from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Pakistan’s government has said it is estimating economic damages inflicted by the deadly rains and floods via surveys to mitigate losses.

“And now that billions of rupees, around Rs100 billion [$352 million] that we are about to give for your rehabilitation, for the construction of your houses, for the losses of your crops, for the losses of your animals, this is also being done through Punjab’s own resources,” Nawaz told people gathered at a camp in the eastern city of Okara set up for flood victims. 

The chief minister kicked off the provincial government’s Flood Rehabilitation Program by distributing cheques and ATM cards among floods victims in the city on Monday. 

Nawaz’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, which is in power in Punjab, said around Rs96 million [$335,600] were disbursed to 500 flood victims in Depalpur tehsil on Monday. 

The party said 73 percent of the flood damages survey has been completed across Punjab, adding that it was expected to be completed in the coming weeks.

The PML-N said a total of 446,697 survey entries have been completed across Punjab, revealing that over 1.2million acres of land and 131,309 houses had been affected by the floods.

It said 5,805 “large” animals and 2,097 sheep and goats perished due to the deluges.