State Bank says ATMs network grows to record 4,734 during second quarter of FY11

Karachi: The scope of payment systems infrastructure continued to show a growing trend during second quarter (October-December) of current 2010-2011 fiscal year (FY11) as a total of 172 automated teller machines (ATMs) were added to e-banking infrastructure bringing total number of ATMs to a record level of 4,734 in the country.

According to State Banks Second Quarterly Report on Payments Systems released Friday, 309 more bank branches have been upgraded to Real Time Online Branches (RTOBs). Now 7,036 bank branches are offering real-time online banking out of total 9,483 bank branches existing in Pakistan. Similarly, number of plastic cards (i.e. ATM, Debit and Credit Cards) also increased by 19.21 percent compared to previous quarter. At quarter end, there were 13.19 million plastic cards in circulation. The volume and value of overall e-banking transactions in the country during the quarter under review reached 56.42 million and Rs 5.5 trillion respectively showing an increase of 7.30% in volume and 17.47 % in value compared to previous quarter. ATMs, being largest channel for e-banking transactions, showed 5.6% increase in number of transactions and 9.5% increase in value which resulted in average value of Rs 8,804 per ATM transaction. It said a significant increase was also recorded in transactions related to real-time online branches (RTOB) as the number of such transactions grew by 10.59 % and value of transactions increased by 17.97%.

The Report said this trend was also witnessed in large value payments settled through Pakistan Real-time Interbank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM), which increased by 12.73% in volume and 13.49% in value of transactions compared to previous quarter. The major portion of PRISM transactions, in terms of value was settlements against securities which accounted for 46% of total transactions followed by Interbank Funds Transfers (38%) and settlement of retail cheq! ues mult ilateral clearing (16%). According to SBP Report, volume and value of paper based retail payments during the quarter under review were 88.46 million and Rs. 39.07 trillion respectively which increased by 6.63 percent in volume of transactions and 9.75 percent in value of transactions compared to previous quarter. The contribution of paper based payments in total retail payment transactions was 61.06 percent in terms of volume and 87.73 percent in terms of value while the rest of the transactions originated from e-banking. Safe, efficient and reliable payment systems are vital part and backbone of financial infrastructure of a country which provide essential base for financial stability. Primary goal of a payment system is to enable fast and risk-free circulation of money in the economy, an essential pre-requisite for satisfying timely payment obligations and improve liquidity in the financial markets.


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