SBP unveils PSR: E-banking transactions reach Rs44trn mark by Q3-end

KARACHI: Digital payments and infrastructure of the banking sector continues to expand and e-banking transactions witnessed over 11 percent growth to reach Rs 44 trillion mark by the end of third quarter (Jan-March) of this fiscal year (FY23).

According to Payment System Review (PSR) issued by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday, a total of 535 million e-banking transactions were processed by banks and MFB during Jan-March quarter of FY23 compared to 513 million were conducted in Oct-Dec of FY23, showing an increase of 4.2 percent.

In term of value, e-banking transactions posted 11.2 percent growth as overall Rs 44.3 trillion were proceeds in the third quarter of this fiscal year as against Rs 39.834 trillion the second quarter. E-Banking includes transactions through Real-Time Online Branches (RTOB), ATMs, Point of Sale (POS), internet and mobile phone banking, call centre/IVR and e-Commerce gateways

During the quarter under review, mobile phone transaction in term of volume raised by 15.7 percent to 179.7 million worth Rs 6.782 trillion, up by 27.4 percent. Internet banking volume decreased by 10 percent to 40.8 million transactions, however in term of value it mounted up by 7.7 percent to Rs 4.14 trillion.

Although volume of e-commerce transactions also declined 22 percent, however its value increased by 7.1 percent to Rs 36.6 billion.

FY21-22: digital payments take a rising trajectory

Paper-based transactions volume in Q2-FY23 was 95.5 million, which has now decreased to 94.3 million by end Q3-FY23. During the same period, value of transactions increased by 3 percent reaching to Rs 56.8 trillion.

Raast is Pakistan’s Instant Payment System, an initiative by SBP, which enables instant end-to-end digital payments among individuals, businesses, and government entities. Since its launch, Raast has shown positive growth in number of user IDs and transactions. As of third quarter, there are 29.2 million registered Raast users, which was 25.8 million in previous quarter. Number of transactions processed through Raast increased by 92 percent to 41,276 million worth Rs 903 billion, grew by 56 percent.

Pakistan Real-time Interbank Settlement Mechanism transactions in term of value posted 14 percent growth to Rs 171.5 trillion during the third quarter of FY23. Around 64 percent of all PRISM transactions pertain to government securities and 32 percent to customers and 3rd party funds transfers.

During the quarter, network of POS machines has expanded by 3.1 percent reaching to 112,302 machines by end of Mar 23. Number of internet and mobile phone banking users registered with Banks and MFBs were 9.3 million and 15.3 million respectively.

As of quarter-end, Banks/ MFBs have 6,562 e-commerce merchants registered with them. In the same quarter, Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) have opened 415,811 new e-wallet accounts reaching 1.6 million accounts in total.

As per previous quarter-end, there were 17,547 ATMs in the country which has now increased to 17,678 ATMs by end Q3-FY23. Average up-time of these ATMs during Q3-FY23 was 96 percent which was 96 percent in previous quarter. Average ticket size of cash withdrawals through ATM during the quarter was Rs 14,281 per transaction.

Adoption and acceptance of digital instrument has been increasing steadily. As of quarter-end Mar-23, total payment cards issued in Pakistan stood at 48.4 million of which, 46.0 million are issued by Banks/ MFBs while the remaining 2.4 million are issued by EMIs.

Payment cards in Pakistan can be categorized into 4 categories; Debit, Credit, Pre-paid and Social Welfare cards. Of total cards in circulation, there are 37.1 million Debit cards capturing 76.7 percent of share in total cards followed by 9.2 million Social Welfare cards with 19.1 percent share, 1.9 million Credit cards (4 percent) and 0.2 percent Prepaid cards.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023