KARACHI: Except for MobiCash and Timepey, the number of transaction of branchless banking (BB) declined 6 per cent to 66.8 million during July-September of 2014 as against 71.2m in the corresponding quarter of last year.
According to the State Bank of Pakistan report, all types of major transactions i.e. agent liquidity, over-the-counter (OTC) and mobile wallet (m-wallet) declined during the period in view.
The number of m-wallet transactions slide by 23 percent to 2.8 million while agent liquidity and OTC went down by 3 percent and 4 percent, respectively, said the SBP report pointed out.
Except for MobiCash and Timepey, all market players witnessed decline in the number of their transactions. The increase in Timepey was solely due to a new disbursement programme for the internally-displaced persons (IDPs).
MobiCash transactions went up by 13pc, whereas transactions by TimePey increased by 11pc.
Among the early players, the major share in number of transactions was lost by UBL-Omni. Its transactions reduced by 3m or 18pc, whereas EasyPaisa’s transactions went down by 2pc.
Similarly among new players, HBL-Express and UPaisa also saw a decline by 37pc and 20pc, respectively.
The value of transactions grew steadily by 15pc to reach Rs375.9bn from Rs326bn in the previous quarter.
The value of transactions in agent liquidity and OTC went up quite significantly whereas m-wallets declined by 26pc.
The OTC and agent liquidity transactions remained dominant in value of overall BB transactions with a share of 47pc each, whereas in terms of overall customer transactions, the OTC constituted a significant share of 87pc.
The share of OTC transactions in overall number and value of customer transactions remained high. OTC transactions in the quarter under review stood at 55.1m, or 87pc of the overall customer transactions compared to 57m transactions (85pc) in the last quarter.
