KARACHI: Digital banking (e-banking) has witnessed 28 percent growth in terms of transactions in value to Rs11.65 trillion by quarter ending December 31, 2017 as compared with Rs9.1 trillion by quarter ending September 30, 2017, according to details released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday.
The transactions in terms of volume have grown by 8.67 percent to 186.7 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 as compared with 171.8 million for the quarter ended September 30, 2017.
The digital banking includes RTOBs, ATM, POS, Mobile Phone Banking, Internet Banking, Call Centers/IVR Banking and e-Commerce Channels etc.
According to breakup of digital banking, Real Time Online Banking (RTOB) processed 41.7 million transactions of worth Rs. 9.8 trillion, of which online cash deposits transactions has the highest share of 47 percent with value share of 19.6 percent. On the other hand, the share of real-time online intra-banks fund transfers is 32.3 percent in volume and 73.2 percent in value of transactions and online cash withdrawals contributed 21.0 percent and 7.2 percent share in volume and value of transaction respectively.
As of 31st December 2017, the total number of Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) installed by 32 banks in the country reached to 13,409 from 12,963 which shows a quarterly growth of 3.4 percent. Out of these ATMs, 10,933 (81.5 percent) are On-site2 ATMs; 2,472 (18.4 percent) are Off-Site3 ATMs and 4 are Mobile4 ATMs all over the country. These ATMs processed 115.3 million transactions worth Rs.1.35 trillion. Cash withdrawals contributed to the majority of the ATM transactions both in terms of volume 102.6 million. (95.0 percent) and value Rs. 1.17 trillion (87.0 percent). Rest of the transactions pertains to Intra and Inter-Bank Fund transfer, Utility Bill Payments, Cash/ Instrument deposit transactions etc. The average size of a single ATM transaction is Rs.11, 729.
Nine banks in Pakistan who acquire Point of Sale (POS) machines. 16.4 million transactions amounting Rs. 73.4 billion were processed through these POS terminals. It is important to mention, that apart from merchant payments, 3 banks are providing cash withdrawals through POS facility. 25 banks in Pakistan offering digital financial services through Internet Banking to 2.7 million registered Internet Banking users in the country as at end December 2017. Internet Banking processed 7.4 million transactions worth Rs. 292.7 billion during the Quarter under review.
Mobile Phone/App based Banking is being offered by 18 Banks/ MFBs to a total of 2.7 million registered Mobile Phone Banking users in the country. Mobile Phone Banking processed 5 million transactions amounting to Rs. 91.7 billion during the Quarter under review.
Due to the rapid increase of Internet and Mobile Phone Banking in the country, the overall volume of Call Centers/ IVR banking has reduced. During the quarter under review, 77.3 thousand transactions value Rs. 2.4 million were processed by Call Centers/ IVR Banking.
The number of local e-Commerce merchants registered with banks reached to 905 from 812 in the last quarter – showed a quarterly growth of approximately 10 percent. Consumers carried out 1.4 million online e-Commerce transactions worth Rs. 9.1 billion through these registered e -Commerce Merchants during the quarter. These transactions depicted a quarterly growth of 11 percent in volume and 15 percent in value of transactions respectively.
As on 31st December 2017, the number of total payment cards issued in Pakistan reached to 39.3 million from 37.8 million in the previous quarter showed a quarterly growth of 4.1 percent. Out of these cards, the numbers of Debit Cards in circulation were 19.8 million, processing 107.9 million (80.8 percent) transactions of value Rs. 1.25 trillion (85.1 percent) transactions. The number of Credit Cards in circulation were 1.37 million processed 8.4 million (6.3 percent) transactions of value Rs. 47.4 billion (3.3 percent) transactions. The remaining number of cards consists of ATMs only, Pre-Paid and Social Welfare Cards. It is important to mention that a decrease of 78 percent by both volume and value is observed for transactions of Social Welfare cards. This may be due to that reason that the payments from BISP were received by the banks in the last week of December, 2017 and the transactions will be reflected in the coming quarter.
PRISM is playing a key role in the financial infrastructure of the country. It has 41 Direct Participants comprising of 29 Commercial Banks, 2 Specialized Banks, 2 MFBs, 7 DFIs and one non-bank i.e. Central Depository Company. During the quarter under review, 0.4 million transactions amounting to Rs.93.6 trillion were processed by PRISM. As compared to the previous quarter, the value of these transactions grew by 6.3 percent and the volume of these transactions showed a quarterly increase of 19.1 percent compared to previous quarter.
The share of 3rd Party Customers’ transfer transactions has the highest share of 328.3 thousands (78.5 percent) in volume of transactions with value share Rs. 6.0 trillion (6.4 percent), the share of Government Securities trade transactions is 16.1 thousands (3.9 percent) in volume of transactions with value share Rs. 69.1 trillion (73.8 percent), Inter Bank Fund transfer transactions has the share of 58.5 thousands (14.0 percent) in volume of transactions with value share Rs. 15.0 trillion (16.0 percent) and the residuals share is contributed by NIFT’ clearing settlement position. In the current quarter the share of wholesale payments in PRISM was 0.07 million (17.7 percent) with the value Rs. 84.1 trillion (89.85 percent), whereas the customer payments were 0.343 million (81.7 percent) with the value Rs. 9.5 trillion (10.14 percent)
During the quarter under review, 117.6 million transactions of worth Rs. 40.3 trillion were carried out using Paper-Based instruments i.e. over the counter cash deposits, Cheques, Pay orders, Demand Drafts etc. These transactions showed a quarterly decline of 1.0 percent in volume of transactions, however showed an increase of 7.9 percent in value of transactions comparing with the previous quarter. The average value of paper-based transaction has increased comparing to previous quarter, which shows that for small transactions people are preferring e-banking channels.