Mobile banking in Pakistan has witnessed a reasonable growth as the number of such accounts (M-Wallets) has reached 1.4 million by 2012, showing an increase of 156 % as compared to previous years.
The current number of m-banking accounts is seven times higher than the numbers at the end of September 2010. Of the total 1.4 million m-banking accounts, 66 % are active accounts and the ratio of active accounts has increased from 54 % as of end December 2011. Telecom sector regulator, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) in its report has revealed that this increase in the active accounts is mainly due to increase in the small transaction m-banking accounts by UBL Omni, facilitated by regulatory flexibility in account opening by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Keeping in view the cellular mobile subscription of over 120 million, the figure of 1.4 million m-banking accounts is a very small number, and shows the potential of m-banking in Pakistan even if we were to reach 50% of all cellular subscribers.
The report said Pakistan has two major players Telenor with ‘Easypaisa’ launched in October 2009 and United Bank Limited (UBL) with ‘Omni’ initiated in April 2010. These two major m-banking initiatives have significant contribution in the growth of mobile banking in the country.
It said during last two years, there has been a massive growth in terms of basic indicators of m-banking indicators including m-banking agents, m-wallet accounts, number of transactions undertaken per day and the outreach to low-income subscribers.
The network of m-banking agents provides necessary contact point for m-banking agents provides necessary contact point for m-banking account opening and transactions, and therefore, has vital importance in the current from to m-banking models in Pakistan. More than 95% to transactions are carried out through agents whereas account to account transfers by individual-customers are still limited.
Currently, there are more than 29,254 m-banking registered agents, which are almost three times the total number of bank branches (9,399) in Pakistan as this shows the potential of m-banking to reach to the unserved. These agents are spread across the country, however, are mostly concentrated in the urban areas and there is a need for incentives and awareness campaign to take agents network to the far-flung and rural areas of the country. Major concentration of m-banking agents is in the province of Punjab as of end March 2012, 62% of agents were in Punjab.
According to Telenor, retail agents of Easypaisa have crossed 18,000 and are spread over 750 cities across Pakistan. The total number of transactions processed during 2012 was 90 million, with the value of transactions amounting to Rs 339 billion.
Quarter-wise number and value of transactions have increased continuously during 2012, showing average quarterly growth of 23% in the number of transactions and 30% growth in the value.
The growth in the number of transactions is greater than the value, therefore, the average size of a transaction has increased from Rs. 3,280 during Apr-Jun 2011 to Rs 4,060 in Apr-Jun 2012, showing a growth of 23.8%. Average number of transactions has also increased from Rs 138,889 during Apr-Jun 2011 to Rs. 315,178 during Apr-Jun 2012. Therefore, overall activity in the m-banking market has substantially increased during 2012.
