Pakistan’s Real-Time Interbank Settlement Mechanism is being rapidly replaced by Digital channels against traditional paper-based transactions as payments. This figure for the third quarter of FY18 can be analyzed such that transactions of Rs.90.1 trillion were carried out through digital channels while only Rs.38.8 trillion was paper-based.
The details about the fast growth of digital transactions in the country were mentioned in a review issued by State Bank of Pakistan for January-March 2018.
The report indicates that digital banking is gaining popularity in the country.
With SBP’s supportive policy, commercial banks are shifting their infrastructure to support e-payment mechanism. The January-March report explained that 45 banks and microfinance banks have reported having 14850 branches with 117 branches overseas. 23 banks are providing online banking services to customers with 13835 ATM machines. Banks also offer internet, call centers/IVR, and mobile phone banking facilities. This all has amounted to 446500 PRISM being processed in this quarter with transactions worth of Rs.90.1 trillion.
With 3.2 percent increase, commercial banks have deployed 426 ATMs by end of this quarter. Now the total no. of ATMs in the country has reached 13835.
Transaction worth of Rs.112.8 billion was made using mobile apps and this has depicted the increase of 12.2 percent and 23 percent in Volume and Value respectively, says the SBP report.
