Branchless banking in the country has shown an impressive growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (FY12), said the central bank in its publication “Branchless Banking News” posted on its website on Thursday.
According to the publication, branchless banking would prove a game-changer in improving the access of un-banked population to financial services in the country.
The total number of active branchless banking agents has reached up to 17,448 in a short span of two years, whereas the number of branches of all commercial banks is almost 10,000.
The total number of active branchless banking accounts increased by 51.23 per cent to 357,598, total branchless banking deposits rose by 28.03 per cent to Rs187 million, number of transactions by 26.93 per cent to Rs15.867 million and the volume of transactions by 43.20 per cent to Rs58,710 million during the July-September, 2011 quarter. The average size of branchless banking transaction is Rs3700 while the average number of transactions per day is 176,296 in the first quarter of FY12, showing evidence of the access of these services to poor and low-income group. The branchless banking models have witnessed growth but they are still in early-phase experimentation, requiring the understanding of critical issues and taking measures to expand retail networks and leverage technologies.
Once these models reach a degree of maturity, the inter-operability would come in to facilitate customers to send money to anyone with account at any bank, and do cash-in and cash-out with agent of any bank. The State Bank has decided to publish the “Branchless Banking News” on a quarterly basis to disseminate various developments taking place in area of branchless banking in the country. The publication would serve as an information hub for all kinds of developments in branchless banking and would also cover regional as well as international news in this area.
The publication covers a detailed overview of the current branchless banking developments, the initiatives taken by SBP as well as other stakeholders, branchless banking snapshot of two major models – Easypaisa and Omni, salient revisions in branchless banking regulations, outcomes of events like G2P conference and AFI Global forum, CGAP surveys on branchless banking models currently operating in Pakistan and key regional as well as international news.
