Karachi: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Sima Kamil on Thursday (October 21) has announced that a digital banking plan has been prepared and will be approved within a month for proper implementation, according to news sources.
The SBP deputy governor, while speaking at the 19th Annual Conference on Future Banking 2021 Summit, disclosed that the digital banking plan has been finalised after intensive consultation. She went on to appreciate the efforts of fintech and other players who were interested in digital banking. She further added that digital banking will offer a wide range of banking services online.
With Central Bank’s recent digital onboarding, Pakistanis can, now, open bank accounts online without visiting the bank branch. It was reported that the central bank will soon introduce the second phase of its instant payment system – Raast – in November. Under this payment system, individuals will be allowed P2P (person-to-person) financial transactions. It was also mentioned that six banks are in the phase of integration.
Moreover, SBP Deputy Governor Kamil stated that the central bank is working on ‘Open Banking’. Sharing more details about this initiative, the deputy governor revealed that the working plan is finalised and work on critical things to open Application Programming Interface (APIs) is underway. She went on to say that an internal steering committee on Open Banking is in talks. It was disclosed that assistance from World Bank (WB) is sought. Furthermore, former Additional Director General FIA and Director General Centre of Information Technology (CIT) Ammar Jaffri has approached Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to form laws for working in digital currencies. A Special Interest Group on Digital Currency was also formed.
Iqra holds BS in International Relations and is passionate about writing engaging content on trending real estate topics. When not working, she is either spending time with family, shopping, or discussing shows & movies.
