KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has decided to directly pay financial assistance into the bank accounts of the Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) beneficiaries aimed at further easing and making the process fully transparent.

Under the framework, about 9.3 million BISP beneficiaries will be able to open a “BISP Sahulat Account” in a single visit to the designated bank branch within their vicinity.

The SBP on Monday issued a framework to onboard the BISP beneficiaries for receiving the social welfare payment into their accounts to be opened in all banks and MFBs across the country.

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To enable the BISP beneficiaries to receive their financial assistance directly into their bank accounts, banks/Microfinance Banks are advised to open accounts of the beneficiaries as per the arrangement provided below.

The framework shall be initially adopted as a pilot for onboarding BISP beneficiaries in Karachi and Lahore. After the successful implementation of the pilot phase, the scope of the framework, with adjustments if needed, shall be extended to other cities.

According to the SBP, the facilitation framework has been developed in consultation with the BISP and banks. The BISP has mapped its beneficiaries with a bank branch in the vicinity of the beneficiaries.

However, given the large number of beneficiaries, the framework will be implemented in phases. Initially, a pilot phase will be run in Karachi and Lahore for onboarding about three hundred thousand (300,000) BISP beneficiaries. Post-successful implementation of the pilot phase, the framework coverage will be extended to other cities in consultation with the BISP.

The framework is expected to facilitate disbursement of social welfare payments to the BISP beneficiaries in an efficient and transparent manner, enhance women financial inclusion, and promote digitization of financial services.

As per framework, the banks will use a secure arrangement to receive account opening information from the BISP which at the minimum will include the beneficiary’s full name (as per CNIC), father’s/spouse’s name, CNIC number, date of birth, mobile number and residential address. Further, BISP, before sending information to the banks, shall ensure that the CNICs of the beneficiaries are valid.

After receiving the information from BISP, banks will carry out screening of beneficiary’s particulars against the lists of persons designated by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and proscribed under The Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 as well as other relevant lists.

Post-screening, the banks will create accounts of beneficiaries in the branches identified by BISP. Thereafter, banks shall generate IBANs of such accounts and share them with BISP, under a mutually agreed and secure arrangement. The BISP will disburse the funds into these accounts through RAAST/IBFT.

The accounts, so created, shall remain inactive and debit blocked until the activation process described by the SBP is completed.

As per process, the banks will activate beneficiaries’ bank accounts, upon their visit to the relevant branch, through Biometric Verification (BV) with liveness checks. If BV could not be performed due to genuine reasons, banks shall document the reasons and conduct NADRA Verisys of BISP beneficiary for account activation purposes and inform BISP, accordingly. Further, banks shall also obtain information regarding date of issuance & expiry of CNIC, place of birth and mother’s maiden name from the BISP beneficiary.

The banks are required to take oral consent from the BISP beneficiaries and record the same through marking relevant check box in their systems, for the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)/ Common Reporting Standard (CRS), wherever required and acceptance of Terms and Conditions (T&Cs) of these accounts.

After account activation, banks will provide pre-activated PayPak cards (functional as debit and ATM card) in a sealed envelope to BISP beneficiaries. The banks will also ensure and facilitate the generation of PINs on these cards during the account activation visit by the BISP beneficiaries.

The banks will not issue cheque books to the BISP account holder and shall not activate internet/mobile banking facilities on such accounts.

The banks, in coordination with BISP, may stagger dates of beneficiaries’ visits for the account activation process, to avoid unnecessary congestion. However, the whole process will be completed in one visit of the beneficiary.

During the pilot phase, BISP beneficiary accounts will be limited mandate accounts primarily meant for receiving disbursements from the BISP. Based on the results of the pilot phase, SBP may consider allowing normal operations in these accounts as permissible under branchless banking level 1 accounts.

The banks will recover all upfront and ongoing costs associated with account opening, issuance and maintenance of ATM cards, from the BISP and no such charges shall be levied on the BISP beneficiaries. However, the fee for issuance of replacement/duplicate debit/ATM card, before its expiry, shall be recovered from the BISP beneficiary.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024