Ninety-four percent of banks’ branches in the country are now offering Real-Time Online Branches (RTOB) services, said the central bank in its Payment Systems Review issued Wednesday for second quarter of the current fiscal year. At least 484 more branches were added to the RTOB network during October-December FY13, it added.
Overall 9,896 branches of banks out of 10,523 now offer RTOB services across the country.
The value and volume of RTOB transactions also increased by 18.82 percent and 14.29 percent respectively during the quarter compared to the previous quarter, the bank said. The value and volume of overall e-banking transactions in the country increased by 18.02 percent and 11.31 percent to Rs 7.6 trillion and 79.45 million, respectively, compared to the first quarter.
The Payment Systems infrastructure in the country maintained an increasing growth trend during the second quarter of FY13 and 245 more Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) were installed by the banks bringing the total number of ATMs in the country to 6,232, the SBP said.
It said the ATM transactions, in terms of volume of overall e-banking transactions, had a major share of 61.12 percent with an average value of Rs 9,779 per transaction.
The overall value and volume of ATM transactions increased by 10.33 percent and 10.68 percent, respectively, during the quarter under review compared to the previous quarter.
The share of ATM transactions in overall e-banking transactions in value terms was 6.27 percent, the regulator said adding the number of plastic cards in the country also increased by 5.33 percent compared to 20.72 million plastic cards issued during the preceding quarter.
The value and volume of transactions through Point of Sale (POS) terminals stood at Rs 22.1 billion and 4.5 million, showing a growth of 6.25 and 5.06 percent, respectively, compared to the first quarter. The central bank pointed out that the recorded value and volume of large-value payments through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) was Rs 42.13 trillion and 1,21,663, respectively, depicting an increase of 9.46 percent in value and 10.35 percent in volume as compared to the first quarter.
The major portion for the increased number of overall Pakistan Real Time Interbank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM) transactions during the review period was contributed by Interbank Funds Transfer (IBFT) which increased by 14.06 percent as compared to the last quarter.
Similarly, the largest contribution in the value of overall PRISM transactions was due to securities settlement which increased by 14.96 percent, the bank added.
