Mobile and internet banking ease the banking sector, allowing e-transactions without visiting the nearby bank or ATM. Pakistan recorded an upsurge in the e-payments in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021-22.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Payment Systems Review released on Monday, e-banking continued to thrive in both volume and value terms as it grew 12% and 16%, respectively, in the quarter under review over the same quarter of the fiscal year 2020-21. The report covered the July-September period of 2021.
E-banking is defined as the transactions performed via electronic channels like real-time online branches, ATMs, mobile banking, internet banking, call center banking, Points of Sale (POS), and e-commerce. All of these channels, mobile and internet banking, outperformed the other ways of e-banking. Mobile banking increased by 4 percent added the 11.3 million users in the banking sector. The value and number of transactions increased, amounting to 79.1 million total transactions and a value of around Rs2.2 trillion.
The report explained the increase in internet banking by 31% conducted the 30 million transactions valuing Rs1.9 trillion. Mobile banking also outclassed internet banking topped all channels of e-banking. The improvement in the structure and operation of banks facilitated the business environment bypassing the hectic visits of banks. The SBP called e-banking fast, efficient, and simple, becoming part of payment systems. Retailed sectors are adopting at a very fast pace due to daily transactions.
E-commerce also adopted the operational banking facilities and recorded an impressive growth of 87% in volume and 21% in value. During the recent quarter, 12.7 million transactions were made related to e-commerce, with a total value of 2.3 billion.
“I am glad to see the growth in digital payments,” SI Global CEO Noman Ahmed Said told The Express Tribune. “Digital payments gained popularity in Pakistan following the pandemic outbreak, which has produced robust growth numbers.”
E-banking increases the speed of money flow and gives fast access to the capital. The most important benefit of digital payments is the information data related to all transactions limiting the illegal money transfer to different accounts. The cyber risks exposed the entire system of e-banking, enabling the hackers to access the user banking ID and password easily.
The banking sector should collaborate with the IT sector to address the cyber risks and develop security infrastructure for the safety of public assets. People should be aware of the potential risk of the cyber-attack slipping money into hackers’ hands. Internal security risk in the bank related to data safety exposed the many commercial bank’s involvements in the banking sector. Breach in the data security will cause huge financial losses to the bank users reducing the trust in the banking sector.
Source:
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2345730/e-payments-show-robust-growth
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