KARACHI:
The Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) has introduced branchless banking services its registered beneficiaries which number more than 400 thousand, through a partnership with Easy Paisa facility provided by Telenor.
Chairman EOBI Zafar Iqbal Gondal said that considering the problems faced by the pensioners in collecting their pension from banks the institution reviewed various options and decided that the Easy Paisa scheme was the best way to go.
According to a survey of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), there are 17,448 outlets of branchless banking spread all over the country as compared to 10,000 branches of the banks. According to the SBP survey a trend of increase in the number of branchless outlets was noticed during the first quarter of this fiscal year.
The chairman EOBI said that EOBI aims to provide social security benefits to every working citizen of Pakistan and the institution was striving to achieve this goal with missionary zeal.
Some commendable steps taken by EOBI recently, include activation and maintenance of the free helpline, the issuance of the digital registration cards for policy holders and the setting up of regional offices in less privileged areas.
According to a statement released by EOBI, the number of employers registered with it has increased and a record contribution of Rs10b has been made by them.
The institution it has initiated schemes to provide medical care, residence, educational stipends and dowry grants for the daughters of needy workers.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ