During the fiscal year 2020-2021, e-banking in Pakistan showed a rise of 22% as 296.7 million transactions valuing around Rs 21.4 trillion were performed.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) released its Quarterly Payment System Review (QPSR) for the second quarter of the current fiscal year that showed immense growth in digital transactions.
Internet & mobile banking transactions more than doubled in Q2FY21 over last year – volume up by 113% and value by 115%. Overall e-banking transactions showed strong growth with volume up 24% and value up 22%. See #SBP Payment Systems Review for Q2FY21: https://t.co/LggrNnvPO1 pic.twitter.com/l9X8H4XWUL
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) March 18, 2021
As per sources, most of the uptake in e-banking transactions was witnessed in internet and mobile banking.
“The volume of mobile banking transactions reached 44 million (up 147 percent), valuing Rs. 1.12 trillion (up 192 percent) during the second quarter of 2020-21 compared to 17.8 million transactions, valuing Rs. 382.5 billion in the same quarter last year”, the report read.
The growth in registered mobile phone banking users has contributed much in this regard as it has reached 9.4 million.
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Similarly, 22 million internet banking transactions valuing Rs 1.3 trillion were performed during the period.
Amid covid-19, the banking regulator had waived various charges on mobile and internet banking that pitched-in the recent progress.
Initially seemed temporary, SBP removed all charges on mobile and internet banking permanently, including bill payments, IBFT, taxes, etc to encourage the use of digital payments, as per sources.
Overall, during the fiscal year 2020-2021, e-banking transactions in Pakistan valuing Rs 21.4 trillion were carried out which registered a growth of 24% by volume and 22% by value as compared to the same quarter of the previous year.