Article 1 E-Banking transactions jump 19% in 2nd HFY11

Staff Report KARACHI: The value of e-Banking transactions aggregated to Rs 12 trillion during the second half of fiscal year 2011 (FY11) showing an increase of 19.0 percent as compared to the first half of the year, says State Bank of Pakistans (SBP) Payment Systems Half Yearly Review released on Wednesday. The volume of such transactions during the period under review reached 125.9 million depicting an increase of 15.5 percent as compared to the first half of FY11, the Review said, adding that the payment system infrastructure in Pakistan has maintained an overall growth trend for the second half of FY11. The Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), which are the largest channel of e-Banking transactions, showed 16.5 percent increase in number of transactions and 19.0 percent increase in value raising the share of ATM transactions in total e-Banking transactions to 58.8 percent and 5.4 percent respectively, the Review said, adding that the number of Real-Time Online Branches (RTOB) transactions grew by 14.7 percent and the value of transactions increased by 18.8 percent as compared to first half of FY11. These transactions contributed 31.6 percent in total volume of e-Banking and 93.2 percent in the value of such transactions respectively, the Review observed. According to the Review, as many as 466 more Automated Teller Machines were added in the system bringing the total number of ATMs in the country to 5,200 while 380 more bank branches were converted into Real Time Online Branches (RTOBs). A total of 7,416 bank branches (78 percent) are now offering real time online banking out of a total of 9,541 branches in the country. The number of plastic cards at 14 million also registered an increase of 6.2 percent during the period under review as compared to the numbers during the preceding half year, the Review added. It said that the total number of POS terminals at 37,232 depicted a decline of 16 percent as compared to 44,383 terminals in the first half of FY11. This decline in the number of POS terminals is due to business considerations in terms of which investment in ATMs was considered a more viable strategic option. The volume of POS transactions in the country during the second half of FY11, however, reached 7.2 million showing an increase of 2.8 percent. The value of POS transactions at Rs 33.9 billion registered a 4.4 percent decrease as compared to the first half of FY11, the Review added. The overall increasing trend in payment system infrastructure was also witnessed in the large value payments settled through Pakistan Real-time Interbank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM), which increased by 14.8 percent in volume and 21.9 percent in terms of value as compared to the first half of FY11, it said and added that the major portion of PRISM transactions, in terms of value was of settlements against securities, which accounted for 46 percent of the total transactions followed by Interbank Funds Transfers at 37 percent and settlement of retail cheques through multilateral clearing at 15 percent. The Review said that the volume and value of paper-based retail payments during the second half of FY11 were recorded as 177.3 million and Rs 84.6 trillion respectively indicating an increase of 3.5 percent in the volume of transactions. The value of transactions has increased by 13.3 percent as compared to the first half of FY11. The contribution of paper-based payments in total retail payment transactions was 58.5 percent in terms of volume and 87.5 percent in terms of value, it added.

Article 2 Banking is one of the most information intensive sectors and is an ideal domain for the successful development of E- Commerce. ebanking refers to the use of the Internet as a remote delivery channel for banking services. It has fulfilled customers anywhere, anytime, anyway banking dream. Ebanking involves consumers using the Internet to access their bank account and to undertake banking transactions. With the passage of time, we see a lot of banks coming up on the scene and competition is already on its way. Every bank is trying to use as much latest technology as it can to facilitate its customers. One of the key features in this regard is eBanking, which a lot of banks are currently providing in Pakistan. Though with the passage of time, ebanking trend is increasing in Pakistan, but still there are a lot of customers, who hesitate to give their information online, like Debit/Credit card numbers. This is not only at customers end, even a lot of banks are still afraid of giving ebanking solution in Pakistan. Everyone who has a little knowledge of eBanking knows that all cards with Visa and Orix logo can be used anywhere on internet for purchase there are a lot of banks is Pakistan issuing credit cards, even debit cards with Visa logo, I would mention ABL (Allied Bank Ltd.) has just launched a new Credit Card also with Visa logo but all they are just for offline purchase and cannot be used on internet. Talking to an ABL representative, why this is so, that cards with even Visa logo cant be used over internet, the answer was: Still there are a lot of security problems in Pakistan, so we cannot afford allowing users to have e-transaction. And there are no chances in near future that ABL may start this service. In this situation where our banks are not courageous to offer ebanking, how will customers get the trend then? But this is not the end of story, on other hands we see a lot of banks in the list that are facilitating their customers with good online facilities and top of them are Standard Chartered Bank and UBL (United Bank Limited). Their debit and credit cards are available for use on internet but still people are very less aware of this, UBL wiz card is first Pakistani Debit Card that can be used on internet for purchase. With the passage of time, trend is changing but still we are lacking in use of modern technology which must be utilized to save money, problems and most important thing Time. An awareness campaign may be started to make people aware of useful benefits of ebanking, like easy purchase, pay your bills, and make transactions from your offices and home.

This thing may give enough wakefulness to each and every single person that he/she may start asking his/her bank to provide ebanking at ease. Hope this will work to make the banks to start online services to meet up the present advancement of world. Ebanking in Pakistan is till on its way and hope to have some fruitful advancements in future.