ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on a regulatory framework for mobile banking interoperability.
Minister of State for Information Technology and Telecom Anusha Rahman Ahmad Khan was the chief guest on the occasion. SBP Governor Ashraf Mahmood Wathra, PTA Chairman Dr Syed Ismail Shah and Mobilink CEO & President Jeffrey Hedberg attended the ceremony where senior managers of commercial banks, cell phone operators and senior officers from the PTA and SBP were also present.
Addressing the ceremony, Khan said that regulations shall not only provide a level playing field to telecom companies and financial institutions, but also introduce a neutral third-party model where telecom companies and banks could join hands to create a sustainable mobile banking ecosystem.
The minister said the strategy was aimed at building momentum to achieve the targets of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which would ensure that 50 percent of the adult population of Pakistani has access to various mobile banking services by 2020.
Mobile money services provide a convenient and viable channel for financial services to the unserved people in Pakistan. There are almost 29 million mobile broadband subscribers in Pakistan and the facility provides a lucrative platform for proliferation of value-added financial services through enhanced features through mobile applications. Therefore, telecom companies and financial institutions should make efforts to tap this potential, the minister said.
Speaking on the occasion, the PTA chairman highlighted the potential of the mobile banking services in Pakistan and said there was a huge incentive to capitalise on the next generation mobile banking opportunities. He said that all institutions should work together to include the unbanked population in the banking services through digital platforms in the next five years. He said that telecom operators would ensure confidentiality of end user authentication and technical transactions-related data.
Shah said the PTA would issue quality of service benchmarks, from time to time, for network availability, resource availability, reliability, priority SMS, message delivery and security standards required for protecting consumer-sensitive data and consumer financial data. He said the PTA and the SBP would jointly monitor the operations of mobile banking services. He said that operators and AFIs would put in place an effective complaint handling mechanism.
Speaking at the event, Wathra said the MoU signed by the PTA and the SBP would be remembered as a milestone in the history of the telecom and banking sectors. He said that branchless banking was a modern facility for the people of Pakistan and it would bring convenience to customers and have a positive impact on the GDP growth of the country.
