ISLAMABAD: The usage of internet banking has increased immensely among Pakistanis as the value of online transactions crossed the Rs1 trillion milestone for the first time in country’s history during the financial year 2017-18.
As many as 3.1 million users have been registered with 28 banks offering internet banking services. These users employed internet banking services 31.2 million times and made transactions amounting to Rs1.2 trillion during the period. The transactions showed a growth of 23.9 percent and 30.3 percent respectively as compared to the previous year.
For internet banking transactions, the shares under different categories included: Intra-bank funds transfer transaction share stands at 25.7 percent or Rs323.8 billion.
Inter-bank funds transfer transaction share stands at 36.6 percent or Rs. 462.1 billion.
Utility bills payments share stands at 2.4 percent or Rs29.7 billion (2.4%) and other payments were done under school/university fee submission, mutual fund payments, credit card payments.
Internet banking also facilitated 99.8 million non-financial transactions which included pay order, cheques books, bank account statements and debit cards requests.
An online telecom blogger – Pro-Pakistani while quoting statistics of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) revealed that surprisingly, the transactions in terms of volume and value using mobile phone services were also significant, showing a growth of 195.6 percent and 189.8 percent during FY-18 as
compared with the previous year.
The shares of mobile banking transaction values stand at Intra-bank fund transfer shares stand at 45.4 percent or Rs186.2 billion.
Interbank fund transfers share stands at 47.9 percent or Rs196.4 million.
Intra-bank and Inter-bank fund transfer were main contributors in total mobile phone banking transactions. Utility Bills Payment share stands at 2.6 percent or Rs10.5 billion.
Mobile banking service was introduced later than internet banking but its users are higher than internet banking standing at 3.4 million, however, its usage is less than internet banking among users.
The number of banks offering mobile banking services through mobile apps stands at only 21 – less than internet banking service which is being offered by 28 banks. These users’ processed 21.8
million transactions worth Rs. 409.8 billion during FY18.
The channel has a growing trend of transactions and during the year, it showed a significant growth as compared to the previous year.
In Pakistan, various commercial banks are offering a variety of financial services through Internet Banking (IB) and Mobile Banking like intra-bank and interbank fund transfer, scheduled funds transfer, utility bill payments, mobile air-time top up, Intra-bank credit card payments, school fee payments etc.
The service utility could be enhanced by increasing reliability and adoption by different banks along with product development under different categories. This will also improve digitization of banking system and financial inclusion of economy as well.