Mobile and internet banking users reached 16 million and 11 million, respectively, in the second quarter of financial year 2023-24, indicating quarterly growth of 8% and 5%.
The Quarterly Payment Systems Review for the second quarter of 2023-24, released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday, highlighted significant progress in Pakistan’s payment ecosystem and provided a comprehensive overview of digital payments landscape.
The user base of payments infrastructure experienced growth in the second quarter (Oct-Dec). Mobile and internet banking remains the preferred mode of digital transactions for Pakistanis.
With the growth in mobile and internet banking users, the number of e-wallets registered with Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) increased 15% to 2.7 million during the quarter, marking more than twofold rise in the last four quarters.
In addition, over 67 million m-wallets were registered with branchless banking service providers.
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During the second quarter, the retail transactions processed by banks, microfinance banks (MFBs) and EMIs showed a quarterly growth of 15%, a significant increase compared to the 5% growth in the previous quarter. Volumes of digital transactions constituted 82% of the overall retail transactions during the quarter under review compared to 80% during the previous quarter. However, in terms of value, over-the-counter (OTC) transactions constituted 85% of the overall retail transactions.
In the same quarter, more than 90% of retail fund transfers and 73% of bill payments/mobile top-ups were conducted using digital channels. Last quarter, these shares were 88% and 68%, respectively.
Instant payment system Raast and real-time gross settlement system (PRISM) significantly contributed to the digital financial services nationwide. Raast played a pivotal role by facilitating 107 million fund transfer transactions free of cost, totaling more than Rs2 trillion in 2QFY24. In the same quarter, the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system processed 1.5 million large-value payments, amounting to Rs273 trillion.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2024.
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