E-banking has grown tremendously in recent years and considerable improvement in the e-banking infrastructure and activities during last fiscal year 2010-11 is a continuation of recent trends. According to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) the quarterly number of electronic transactions reached 53.4 million by fourth quarter of last fiscal year as compared to 28.0 million in quarter 4 of fiscal year, almost doubling in the last three years.
This clearly reflects the increasing use of e-banking services in the payment system infrastructure. This is an encouraging development as e-banking facilities provide a viable solution for expanding the outreach of financial services to remote areas. The composition of electronic transactions indicates that ATM-based transactions account for over 50.0 percent of total electronic transactions, and that the share of these transactions is gradually increasing over time.
This rise is attributable to both the increasing number of ATM cardholders and the number of financial services offered through ATMs. Real-Time Online Banking (RTOB) transactions are the second largest component of electronic transactions, with a share of 30.9 percent in FY10. SBP revealed that transactions at POS terminals/machines account for nearly 8.0 percent of total electronic transactions, while transactions through internet, mobile banking and call centers constitute only 2.2 percent of financial transactions.
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