The use of electronic banking (e-banking) in Pakistan continued to expand as it recorded a growth of 10.7% in volume and 22.8% in value of transactions during the second quarter (October-December) of fiscal year 2021-22 on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
In its second quarterly report on payment systems for fiscal year 2021-22 released on Friday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cited that an encouraging picture of adoption of digital banking was being witnessed in the country.
“E-banking comprises transactions conducted via electronic channels including real-time online branches, ATMs, mobile banking, internet banking, call centre banking, point of sales (POS) and e-commerce,” the SBP said in a statement.
“The growth in e-banking transactions is much steeper relative to paper-based transactions, albeit the value of transactions is higher in the case of latter.”
The volume and value of paper-based transactions increased by 3.4% and 12.2% respectively.
While the volume of e-banking transactions is almost four times higher at 400 million than paper-based transactions at 101.4 million, the value of transactions of the former stands at Rs33.4 trillion compared with Rs41.6 trillion for paper-based transactions, the SBP said.
Across-the-board growth in e-banking included expansion in both mobile and internet banking with double-digit increase in the value and volume of transactions during the second quarter of FY22.
The number of mobile banking transactions was 94 million, while their value reached Rs2.2 trillion, which translated into 18.8% and 35.4% growth respectively on a quarter-on-quarter basis.
Meanwhile, the number of mobile banking users grew 5% on a quarter-on-quarter basis, reaching a total of 11.9 million customers.
Internet banking users reached 6.9 million, conducting 33.8 million transactions, amounting to Rs2.4 trillion, which translated into a strong 13.9% growth in terms of volume and 28% surge in value compared to the preceding quarter.
The upswing continued in the retail sector, which increasingly adopted digital payments. During the quarter under review, a total of 31.4 million transactions amounting to Rs178.1 billion were processed via 92,153 POS terminals.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2022.
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