State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop an appropriate technological and regulatory framework to promote mobile banking in the country. The MoU was signed by Inayat Hussain, Executive Director SBP and Dr Muhammad Saleem, Director General Commercial Affairs PTA in the presence of SBP Governor Yaseen Anwar and PTA Chairman Dr Mohammed Yaseen. The main objective of the MoU is to develop an appropriate technological and regulatory framework through a consultative process to strengthen mobile banking with a view to supporting the provision of banking services as authorised by SBP.
Under this collaboration, PTA and SBP will act as facilitators by means of regulatory oversight and issuance of license to Third Party Service Providers (TPSP) and setting performance benchmarks through standardised Service Level Agreement (SLAs) between telecom operators or TPSPs and the authorised financial institutions for carrying out financial transactions in a prudent manner through mobile banking, under relevant legislative structure.
The MoU is meant to develop a cohesive regulatory framework, in consultation with all the stakeholders and to assist each other in achieving the common objective of providing the low cost mobile banking services. In order to coordinate smooth implementation of mobile banking and to resolve any disputes among the stakeholders, a SBP-PTA Joint Coordination Committee shall be constituted comprising firstly four officials from SBP including the Executive Director (BPRG), Director-Banking Policy and Regulations Department, Director-Payment Systems Department and Director- Information Systems and Technology Department.
The committee would be jointly headed by the Executive Director (BPRG), SBP and Director General (Commercial Affairs), PTA. To monitor the progress, representatives of both the parties shall meet on a quarterly basis and suggest measures to improve or further expand the framework as and when the need arises.
Speaking on the occasion, Governor State Bank of Pakistan Yaseen Anwar said over 0.8 million branchless banking accounts have so far been opened while the average number of transactions per day is around 0.18 million and the average ticket size per transaction stands at Rs3,700.
He said the agent network under branchless banking umbrella had exceeded 20,000 agents, who have helped to channelise 50 million financial transactions worth more than Rs190 billion while the number of bank branches at present was only ten thousand (10,000). He said these agent outlets are spread across several cities, towns and smaller villages in Pakistan. Anwar said technology has made it possible for banking industry to offer a wide gamut of services such as e-Banking, Branchless/Mobile Banking, Electronic Clearing Systems, Electronic Funds Transfer, Smart Cards, plastic cards of various forms etc.
Appreciating the initiatives of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and the Ministry of Information Technology (MOIT) to promote and develop the emerging field of branchless and mobile banking in the country, he said that it is also heartening to note that PTA is also playing an important role by encouraging it’s regulatees to play their due part in provision of smooth and efficient Branchless Banking services.
