KARACHI: The usage of electronic banking (e-banking) in Pakistan continues to develop in the second quarter of fiscal year 2021-22, with a volume increase of 10.7% and a value increase of 22.8 percent.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) presented its second quarterly report on payment systems for fiscal year 2021-22 on Friday, citing an optimistic picture of digital banking usage in the country.
In a statement, The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) defined e-banking as “transactions undertaken via electronic channels, including real-time online branches, ATMs, mobile banking, internet banking, call center banking, point of sale (POS), and e-commerce.”
“E-banking transaction growth is far faster than paper-based transaction growth, despite the fact that the value of transactions is larger in the latter.”
While the volume of electronic banking (e-banking) transactions is about four times that of paper-based transactions (400 million vs. 101.4 million), the value of the former is Rs33.4 trillion vs. Rs41.6 trillion for paper-based transactions, according to the SBP.
During the second quarter of Fiscal Year22, electronic banking (e-banking) increased across the board, with double-digit increases in the value and number of transactions in both mobile and internet banking.
The total number of mobile banking transactions was 94 million, with a value of Rs2.2 trillion, representing quarter-on-quarter increases of 18.8% and 35.4 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the number of people who use mobile banking increased by 5% quarter over quarter, to 11.9 million people.
Internet banking users were 6.9 million, with 33.8 million transactions totaling Rs2.4 trillion, representing a significant 13.9 percent increase in volume and a 28 percent increase in value over the previous quarter.
The retail sector, which has been rapidly adopting digital payments, has continued to grow. During the quarter under review, 92,153 POS terminals handled a total of 31.4 million transactions worth Rs178.1 billion.
