South Asia Investor Review

Digital transactions in Pakistan soared 31.1% to Rs. 88 trillion or $500 Billion in fiscal year 2020-21, according to the nation's top central banker. “If the figure is $500 billion now, you can imagine the pace at which we are digitizing,” said Dr. Baqir Raza, Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, adding that those transactions showed a year-on-year growth of 30.6% in volume and 31.1% in value. The nation's central bank also reported that the large-value payments segment, known as Real-time Inter-Bank Settlement Mechanism (PRISM),  saw growth of 60% by volume and 12.8% by value to Rs. 444.6 trillion or $2.5 trillion in FY 2020-21. There are several factors driving rapid shift to digital technology, including expanding digital infrastructure,  new technologies  and the government's efforts to document Pakistan's huge  undocumented economy . Grey-listing of Pakistan by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has also played a role.  Internet & Mobile Banking...

Pakistan government is handing out Rs. 40,000 per family to nearly a million internally displaced persons (IDPs) through mobile service operator Zong's mobile SIMs. The government is attempting to ease the discomforts of displacement for such a large number of people displaced after the start of Pakistan Army's Operation ZarbeAzb  to  root out terrorists  from North Waziristan tribal agency. Zong is one of several mobile service operators offering Easypaisa m-money service. It was pioneered by  Telenor Pakistan . Easypaisa  moved $3.5 billion in fiscal 2012-13. Bangladesh's bKash did $4 billion over the same period. These figures were well ahead of the $3.2 billion moved in comparable period by India's M-Pesa mobile money network, according to  New York Times .  Over the last 12 months, the m-money market volume in Pakistan has reached 153 million annual transactions worth US$ 6.2 billion, according to  Asian Development Bank . Easypaisa M...

Spurred by a favorable regulatory and technology environment, Pakistan is witnessing dramatic growth in branchless banking, according to a March 14, 2012 report by the State Bank of Pakistan . Here are some of the key indicators contained in the State Bank report: 1. Number of branchless banking accounts jumped 40 percent to 929,184 in October-December 2011 (Second quarter of FY2011-12) from the preceding three month period. 2. Total amount of branchless banking deposits surged 169 percent to Rs 503 million in Oct-Dec 2011 from July-September 2011. 3. Number of branchless banking transactions during the second quarter rose 30 percent to 20.6 million while the value of transactions showed a growth of 35 percent to reach Rs. 79,410 million. 4. Branchless banking agents network in Pakistan grew by 16 percent in the second quarter (October- December 2011) of current fiscal year 2011-12 to reach 22,512 agents covering the entire length and breadth of the country. 5. The average size of bra...