For all its shortcomings, the e-banking ecosystem in Pakistan has taken major leaps over the last couple of years in part thanks to Covid-19. Since March 31, 2020, internet and mobile banking users have increased from 3.81 million and 8.19m to reach 7.83m and 11.98m respectively as of the third quarter of 2021-22 (Q3FY22). In terms of transactions, the growth curve has been even steeper.
The value of internet and mobile banking transactions surged from Rs748.1 billion and Rs467.5bn at the end of Mar 31, 2020, to Rs2.91 trillion and Rs3.09tr respectively as of the previous quarter. Similarly, their volumes grew from 14.1m and 21.2m to 38.3m and 101.5m respectively over the same period.
However, all this digitisation has been largely concentrated in consumer banking. On the corporate and business side, the processes are still very much traditional and cash (or cheques) is cash. This is despite the segment being much bigger thanks to the higher turnover and bulk payments.
While exact numbers on their scale aren’t available, paper-based and real-time online banking (RTOB) transactions can serve as a good proxy for the segment’s flow of money. The former recorded a value of Rs46.4tr and volume of 96.m in Q3FY22 — meaning the average transaction was worth almost Rs481,000. Meanwhile, the latter saw a throughput of Rs26.8tr with volume at 52.3m and an average of around Rs512,000.
While e-banking has grown leaps and bounds to trillions of rupees, businesses continue to use...
Read Full Story: https://www.dawn.com/news/1700216/cash-is-cash-for-businesses
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