The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has amended the existing Branchless Banking Regulations for Financial Institutions (FIs), including commercial, Islamic and microfinance banks, for expanding the outreach of branchless banking operations in the country.
These amendments in the Regulations shall be immediately applicable to all potential FIs.
The FIs, which have already been allowed to offer branchless banking services, have been advised to streamline their existing operations and processes as per amended regulations within six months and report compliance to SBP, according to BPRD Circular No. 09 issued by the central bank Monday.
According to new amendments, SBP has introduced Level ‘0’ Branchless Banking (BB) Accounts to bring the low income earning segment of society into the financial services loop.
With the introduction of Level ‘0’ BB Accounts, now, instead of sending the physical Account Opening form and copy of customer’s CNIC to the FIs for further processing, the branchless banking agents have been allowed to send the Digital Account Opening form, customer’s digital photo and an image of customer’s CNIC to the FI electronically.
The new category of Level ‘0’ BB Account will provide flexibility to the agent and the FI for opening of basic BB accounts while rationalising the ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’ requirements in line with the transaction limits.
The following transaction and maximum balance limits on Level “0” Accounts shall be applicable: daily limit Rs15,000, monthly limit Rs25,000, annual limit Rs120,000 and maximum balance limit Rs100,000.
Similarly, the transaction limits of Level 1 Branchless Banking Accounts have been reasonably increased to cater to the needs of the customers by rationalising the KYC requirements.
Now, all services permissible under existing Branchless Banking Regulations shall be available to Level “1” account holders. The transaction and maximum balance limits applicable to Level “1” Accounts will be: daily limit Rs25,000 (previous limit was Rs10,000), monthly limit Rs60,000 (previous limit was Rs20,000) and annual limit Rs500,000 (previous limit was Rs120,000). There will be no maximum balance limit, according to the amendments.
