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ATM transactions increase 5.9%

SBP’s Payment Systems Review shows 390 new ATMs installed in 1QCY14.

Our Correspondent June 19, 2014 2 min read

Preferred method: 81.2% of the total amount of cash withdrawn was from ATMs. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI:

More than 390 new ATMs were installed in the first quarter of 2014, up of 5.1% from the preceding quarter, bringing the total number of ATMs in Pakistan to 8,077, according to the Payment Systems Review released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Wednesday.

ATMs remained the preferred channel for cash withdrawals, accounting for 81.2% of the total amount transacted via this mode, the SBP said. Total ATM-based transactions constituted a volume share of 63.8% and a value share of 8.1% in total e-banking transactions.

Moreover, total transactions carried through ATMs showed a quarterly increase of 5.9% in volume and 6.2% in value of transactions.

The Pakistan Real-Time Interbank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM), which is a large value payment system, showed a mixed trend of transactions settlement over the last five quarters, the SBP said. Compared to the preceding quarter, total transactions settled in PRISM showed an increase of 10.2% both in volume and value in Jan-Mar. Compared to the same quarter of 2013, the increase in volume was 28.7% while the value of transactions decreased by 1.6%.

The retail payment system in Pakistan is supported by payments made through the branch network or through e-banking channels, such as ATMs, points-of-sale (POS), internet banking, mobile phone banking and call centres. Out of the existing 11,153 total bank branches, 10,601 are providing Real Time Online Banking services. Total RTOB transactions constituted a volume share of 23.9% and a value share of 89.2% in total e-banking transactions.

In the composition of RTOBs transactions, the share of cash withdrawals is 21.1% in volume and 6.7% in value of transactions, the share of Interbank Funds Transfer (IBFT) is 42.0% in volume and 83.9% in value of transactions, and the residual share of transactions pertains to cash deposits.

As of March 31, 24 banks are offering internet banking services, 13 are offering mobile phone banking and 22 are offering the call centre banking facility to customers for bill payments, fund transfers and other banking services. During the current quarter, 68 POS machines have been added in the network bringing their total number to 33,802.

Internet banking constituted a volume share of 4.4% and a value share of 2.1%, mobile phone banking constituted a volume share of 1.6% and a value share of 0.2% and call centre banking constituted a volume share of 0.2% and a value share of 0.03% in total e-banking transactions.

Moreover, total transactions carried through internet banking showed an increase of 15.7% in volume and 7% in value of transactions. Total transactions carried through POS showed an increase of 7.7% in volume and 10.4% in value. Mobile phone banking transactions showed an increase of 14.1% in volume and 13.3% in value. Total transactions carried through call centre banking showed a decline of 1% in volume and an increase of 4.1% in value over the preceding quarter, the SBP said.

“In the composition of plastic cards, debit cards have the highest percentage share of over 90.6% followed by credit cards with 5.5% and ATM-only cards with 3.9% share as of the end of the last quarter. The total number of plastic cards showed a quarterly increase of 8.6% a year-on-year increase 11.7%”, the SBP said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2014.

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