More than 300 ATMs were installed and dozens of bank branches added to the online branch network in the country in the fourth quarter of FY13.
According to Payment Systems Review of 4th Quarter (April to June) FY13 released by the State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday, the installation of 308 ATMs brought the total number to 6,757. Some 67 more bank branches were added to the online branch network which makes a total of 10,013 branches that are now offering RTOB services out of 10,581 total bank branches across the country.
The review said that compared with the preceding quarter, the number of plastic cards (credit cards, debit cards, ATM only cards, smart cards, Islamic credit cards) issued to customers increased by 2.53 percent in the fourth quarter of FY13, thus bringing the total number of plastic cards issued to 22.32 million.
In comparison with other plastic cards, ATM Only Cards shown the highest growth rate of about 4.56 percent, which has raised the total number of ATM Only Cards issued so far to 962 thousand, although debit cards have the highest percentage share in overall plastic cards which is more than 90 percent. Transactions through debit cards also increased both in volume and value.
According to the review, the volume of overall e-banking transactions during the quarter also depicted a growth of 6.42 percent which is equal to 87.49 million transactions. Of all the e-banking transactions, mobile transactions showed the highest percentage increase as compared to the previous quarter of current fiscal year.
These transactions increased by 18.05 percent in terms of volume reaching to 1.32 million as compared to 1.12 million in the preceding quarter. The value of mobile transactions again showed the highest percentage increase as compared to the previous quarter as the value increased by 34.35 percent reaching to Rs 9.9 billion as compared to Rs 7.3 billion in the preceding quarter.
The review said that in terms of volume of overall e-banking transactions, ATM transactions have a major share of 63.70 percent and average value per transaction stands at Rs 10,007. In comparison with the number of transactions reported in the third quarter of the current fiscal year, the overall volume of ATM transactions increased by 8.00 percent and the value increased by 8.02 percent. During the quarter, 559 more Point of Sale machines were installed by various banks across the country.
During this quarter, the recorded volume and value of large value payments through RTGS was 134,738 and Rs 41.72 trillion, respectively. This showed an 11.02 percent increase in the volume and 5.88 percent in the value as compared to the figures reported in the third quarter of current fiscal year.
The major portion for the increased number of overall PRISM transactions in this quarter was contributed by IBFT which increased by 11.49 in volume percent and 23.63 percent in value. Moreover, IBFT has largest share in overall PRISM transactions in terms of volume while securities transactions has highest share in terms of value which are 78.70 percent and 60.33 percent respectively.