Saudi Pak Commercial Bank has come a long way in the last three years since the new management took over the bank in September 2001. All banking indicators have gone up many folds, including advances, deposits, assets etc. In three years time, deposits of the Saudi Pak Bank have risen more than ten times and advances more than seven times for the period ending December 31, 2004 (estimated on un-audited figures).
The bank has made remarkable progress on the technology side. In a short span of time, entire bank network across the country has been made online. Saudi Pak Commercial Bank's customers can cash their cheques from any SPCB branch across the country from all major cities.
Bank has established its own ATM network and Call Center. Debit card has been launched through which customer can use ORIX network at more than 2,500 Point of Sales locations across the country and avail benefits of this cashless facility. Financial institutions of the country are focusing on the opportunities presented by Internet and World Wide Web. Traditional products and services are now being offered through new delivery channels and entirely new products and services are being developed.
Aside from balance inquiry and funds transfer between restricted accounts; promotional and deposit gathering activities are also being practised through the Internet. Mobile phone banking has a big potential market.
Saudi Pak Bank is also planning to implement these modern banking services in very near future. Pilot projects on many fronts have been initiated. It is planning to have lending activities, ie loan applications, applications for Letter of Credits (LC) or Letter of Guarantee (LG) etc being offered through the Internet.
Utility bill payments through the web will also become a common feature soon. e-Payments are usually linked with credit cards in Pakistan and therefore it's a common perception that its use (ie e-Payments) will be limited. However with the launch of debit cards, e-payments will have a wide range of usage. As all banks can now enjoy facilities of both ATM networks, ATM cardholders population is increasing rapidly.
This has resulted in substantial increase in ATMs usage for cash withdrawal. The natural follow-up step is utility bill-payments, through ATMs first and then through the web.
Saudi Pak Bank offers transfer of money over Internet by legal channels. The designated person in Pakistan can receive within 15 minutes the amount, deposited at the locations of SPCB partners in Europe and Middle East, from SPCB special remittance counters across the country.
The cost of the transaction is extremely low and this fast, reliable, secure and legal channel is not only adding foreign exchange to the country's reserves but also help overcome the menace of hundi.
Saudi Pak Bank plans to launch its own credit card. Data warehousing and SAN projects are planned for year 2005. State of the art hardware, networking and system software have been implemented.
A fully functional round-the-clock manned data center at Central Office, Karachi equipped with modern processing facilities is the nerve center from where all digitised activities of the bank are generated and monitored. A full fledged Disaster Recovery Site is in place to meet the standard IT operations requirement.
SPCB will remain committed to its motto of providing best services at affordable cost to its valued customers. Saudi Pak Bank, therefore, intends to establish itself as a technology oriented financial institution. Hence, to pursue its goal Saudi Pak Bank has invested heavily towards acquiring state of the art equipment, systems and applications.
The bank will continue to allocate resources in future as well to remain ahead in this competitive market.
(The writer is Executive Vice President & Divisional Head Information Technology Division)
Comments
Comments are closed.